from the school of hard knocks

indiawatch

Sports fest for law collegesNational Law School of India Universitywill conduct their annual sports festival‘Spiritus 2009-2010’ from January 15 to17. The events will be held at NLSIU andthe neighbouring Sports Authority of In-dia campuses. Around 700 students from30 law colleges from Bangalore and otherparts of the country are expected to par-ticipate. The events to be conducted arebasketball, carrom, football, chess, bad-minton and table tennis.

Women’s deaf sports c’shipThe 3rd National Deaf Women’s Sports Championship will be held fromJanuary 28 to February 1 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore. Tillnow, 18 states have confirmed participa-tion and around 600 athletes are expectedto participate. For details and contribu-tions, contact organising secretary TVManohar (ph: 9243085916, email:manohar_tv99@yahoo.co.in)

Yuki takes on Minar India’s teen sensation YukiBhambri has entered theAustralian Open men’squalifiers and he takes onCzech Jan Minar in thefirst round of his maidenGrand Slam event on

Wednesday. As a junior Australian Openchampion last year, Yuki, 17, is entitled toa wild card entry in the qualifying roundsthis year, but he made the cut on his ownwith his improved ranking of 330. Minar,who is 11 years Yuki’s senior, is ranked245. Also in the qualifying race isSomdev Devvarman, who is seeded 27thin the draw. Somdev opens against 17-year-old Australian James Duckworth.Prakash Amritraj, ranked 200, plays inthe first round German Andre Bege-mann, ranked 231. The Australian Openbegins Monday at Melbourne Park.

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epaper.dnaindia.com 18SPORTBangalore,

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Dev S Sukumar. BANGALORE

It’s over seven years since K Ra-jkumar shifted his home fromthe urban slum of Swarnahalliin Viveknagar. On Monday, hebriefly returned to walk thestreets of his childhood. Thingshaven’t changed much – manyof the homes are flimsy huts ofbricks and mud, with opendrains running in front – butsome of the older tenements havebeen demolished for newer build-ings. People stop to chat him up.He’s a hawaldar with the armynow, one of the few from theplace who made it to a better life.

When the 25-year-old won thebantamweight gold medal at theSouth Zone Boxing Champi-onships last week, it underlineda recurring theme: that in box-ing, champions are born out ofpoverty. Rajkumar’s is a storythat has been played out in stark-er detail, and on the world stage,by several others – Jack John-son, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali,Mike Tyson. In Bangalore, itslow income settlements, in areassuch as Cox Town, Austin Townand Murphy Town, have longbeen recognised as a nursery forfootballers – but their contribu-tion to boxing has not been wide-ly acknowledged. Rajkumar’s isnot a unique tale; it only rein-forces the stereotype.

Like his idol Mike Tyson, Ra-jkumar was a problem kid. Afriend he grew up with, one ofthe many who roamed thestreets and picked up fights, wasmurdered by a rival gang notlong ago. Others are still drifters.“Boxing saved me,” he says, witha slight lisp, the result of somemissing teeth. “If not for boxing,I don’t know where I’d have been.Probably in jail.”

“My father was a watchman. Ihad four elder sisters and abrother, and it wasn’t easy. I usedto wander around and pick upfights. I would be first in for anyfight. One day a man stopped meand told me: ‘So you want tofight? Come with me, I’ll showyou how.’”

The man was Sports Authori-ty of India coach J Sreedharan,who lived in the neighbourhood.Rajkumar had seen him do yogaon his terrace every morning;but he brushed him aside andwent his way. Soon after, having

bunked class, he noticed thatSreedharan had come to hisschool to recruit boys for boxing.Asked if he was interested, theyoung boy, who trusted his streetfighting skills, put his hand up.

The batch of 22 was taken toBangalore Military School, andasked to spar. “The coach waslooking for character,” says Ra-jkumar. “I beat up one boy andhe started bleeding. I was short-listed along with seven others.”

Sreedharan trained the groupfor a month. Many of the boysdropped out; out of the 22, therewere just four left. Sreedharanwould pay them money for food.At the state championships, Ra-jkumar won the sub-junior silvermedal and was selected for theSAI boxing scheme that assuredhim board and lodging. His box-ing career took off from there –while he wouldn’t quite attain thelevel of India’s better-known box-

ers, such as Jitender Kumar orSuranjoy Singh, Rajkumar wonthe state championships fiveyears in a row and the South Zonethrice. At the national champi-onships he won a bronze, and thathelped him get a call-up from thearmy’s Madras EngineeringGroup (MEG) in Bangalore.

It hasn’t been a spectacular ca-reer, but the job with MEG hashelped him marry off his eldersisters and push his family upfrom the slum of Swarnahalli.“I’m very different now,” he says.“My friend-circle has changed.MEG has a good programme forboxers. I train even when I gohome once a week.

“I didn’t know my talent. Itwas Sreedharan who discoveredit. He showed me there could bea good life in boxing.”

And what of Sreedharan him-self ? He lies nearly immobile,from a stroke he had three years

ago, in an asbestos-roofed tene-ment not far from where Rajku-mar lives. It’s a tragic story – butthe upshot is this: he’s bed-rid-den, unable to speak or move,able only to move his left hand.Tending to him is his 83-year-oldmother, who struggles to makeends meet with her late hus-band’s pension. Sreedharan is athird of his former size; he stillsmiles, but he bears no resem-blance to the hulking boxer ofhis youth. Some of the boxingdisciples come by sometimes, asdo his five siblings, but for themost part, he lives on memories.He smiles when reminded of Ra-jkumar, or the other boxers hehelped raise – Sudhakar Rao,Dhiraj Singh, Vinod Kumar,Parveez Ahmed.

“Sreedharan gave me a life,”Rajkumar says, “If not for him Iwould still have been roamingthese streets.”

From the school of hard knocksK Rajkumar, whowon a gold medal atlast week’s SouthZone championship,was raised in aViveknagar slum

A VEERAMANI

Give them their due, say former playersVivek Phadnis. BANGALORE

It is a never-ending story in Indian hockey.The revolt by the players in the camp at Puneshows just how much they are fed up withthe way the governing body operates. Be itthe erstwhile Indian Hockey Federation orHockey India (HI), concern for players is vir-tually non-existent.

Such instances are not new in the historyof Indian hockey. Over the years, playershave demanded some kind of monthly salaryor remuneration that will help them survivein case they do not have regular jobs. Whilein pre-independence times, it was just pas-sion and pride that drove these men. Buttimes have changed and passion does notfill stomachs. That is something people needto understand. If they do not, it leads to re-volts and protests.

“This is not the first time such a thing hashappened,” said Olympian MP Ganesh, alsoformer Indian captain and coach. He retiredas the Executive Director (teams) of SportsAuthority of India.

“What they are asking is genuine. What isdue to them needs to be given to them.”

Former Indian goalkeeper and OlympianAshish Ballal also felt that the players aregetting a raw deal. “I support the players ful-ly. This is not social service. There are someplayers who are not employed. Will they beworried about the country or their nextmeal?” he questioned. “The frustration was

there and it has now reached boiling point.”“Even when we were playing, officials did

not care. There was a risk and threat of be-ing dropped from the team if we protested.

“There is no accountability in the Na-tional governing body,” he added.

Ballal also raised an interesting point. “Itis shocking to see that no corporate body hascome forward to help the players out,” he said.

What the game has lacked is a profession-al approach, paid office bearers who can beheld accountable for their actions. When theIndian Hockey Federation was removed, anad-hoc body constituted and Hockey Indiacoming into existence subsequently, therewas hope among hockey players, present andformer, that something would change. But thechange does not seem to have happened forthe better. To add to the complication is pres-sure from the International Hockey Federa-tion (FIH that has been pressing HI to conductelections. For elections, the merger of themen’s and women’s associations and affilia-tion of all state associations have to be com-pleted. And the World Cup is to be held in NewDelhi in February/ March for which prepa-rations have to be made. All these factors haveonly made life tougher for the administrators.

To deal with things, Ganesh feels thereshould be a system in place. “They shouldhave a calendar and get approval from theSports Ministry,” Ganesh, currently the CEOof the Karnataka State Cricket Association,said. “The system should be there to run the

affairs of the federation. Just look at theBCCI. There has been no system in hockeyfrom the beginning.” The core group playersin Indian hockey revolting just before the

country is hosting the World Cup is indeeda shameful scenario. With India not amongthe best teams in the world, the faster this isresolved, the better will it be.

TOTAL RECALL: Rajkumar, pictured at the neighbourhood he grew up in. Boxing provided anescape from the dangers of growing up as a street thug

Bursa: India registered alucky victory over Egypt in aclosely-fought encounter tohold on to their joint third spotat the end of the seventhround of the World TeamChess Championships.

Grandmaster G N Gopalscored a rabbit-out-of-hat vic-tory against Abdel RazekKhaled just when a drawlooked inevitable to guide In-dia to an improbable 2.5-1.5win after the other threegames were drawn.

Gopal became the hero ofthe day from Indian perspec-tive, especially because thegame was only a few of movesaway from being declareddrawn when the Turkish In-ternational Master landedhimself in a lost position.

It was a Rook and Bishopv/s Rook endgame wherein 47moves were already played byboth players; after 50 movessuch a game would have beendeclared drawn. But Gopalkept trying and caught hiscomplacent opponent off-guard in one of the knowntraps. The United States con-tinued with their fine run andemerged as the sole leader on12 points following a 2.5-1.5 vic-tory over Greece. For the US,yet again, Hikaru Nakamurascored an important victoryon the top board against Vasil-ios Kotronias.

In other games of the day,Russia played out a 2-2 drawwith Armenia while Azerbai-jan drubbed Brazil 3.5-0.5.

United States is on top with12 points, followed by Russiaon 11. Azerbaijan and Indiashare the third spot on ninepoints with two more roundsto go. Armenia is sole fifth oneight points, a full point adrift

of Israel who have a pointmore than Greece. Turkey andEgypt share the eighth spot onthree points each and Braziloccupies the last spot with justtwo points.

True to his style, Sasikiranfought hard to try and open anearly lead. Adly, the 2007 WorldJunior champion, made slowbut steady progress with hiswhite pieces. In the late mid-dle game, Sasikiran sacrificeda rook for knight to get somecompensation and his oppo-nent returned it when the dan-ger became imminent. The In-dian’s hope vanished in the en-suing endgame that wasdrawn after 80 moves.

In the next encounter,Harikrishna’s white piecesdid not yield the desired resultfor him as Amin Baseem neu-tralised his initiative fairlyquickly. Harikrishna’s formhere has been a cause for con-cern for the think tank andagainst Baseem, a player rat-ed more than 150 points belowhim, the Indian was held to aneasy draw.

On the fourth board, Na-tional Champion B Adhibanwas also held to a draw by Sar-wat Walaa after 48 moves.

Plucky Gopal pullsoff unlikely win

OVER THE MOON: With World Cup preparations taking a hit due to the payment con-troversy, Indian hockey might not witness joyous scenes such as this

Helps India retainthird spot by beating Egypt withlast-gasp victory

Results round 7Russia drew withArmenia 2-2Egypt lost to India 1.5-2.5 (Adly Ahmeddrew with KrishnanSasikiranP Harikrishna drewwith Amin BassemAbdel Razik Khaled lostto G N GopalB Adhiban drew withSarwat Walaa)Israel lost to Turkey 1.5-2.5; Brazil lost toAzerbaijan 0.5-3.5Greece lost to UnitedStated 1.5-2.5

C Rajshekhar Rao. NEW DELHI

Indian golf star Jeev MilkhaSingh feels Tiger Woods’s ab-sence from the professional cir-cuit will hit the game very badly.

“I feel Woods will be out foraround three months or so. I amsure the television ratings willtake a severe beating during thattime,” the 38-year-old said on thesidelines of a function here toannounce his appointment asbrand ambassador of the Call-

away golf company.“But I am sure the ratings will

improve once he is back on thecircuit. That is what Woodsmeans to the game,” Jeev added.

On the Royal Trophy thatAsia lost to Europe a few daysago, Jeev said the contest wasthrilling.

“It was obviously disappoint-ing to lose but we could not haveasked for more. It ultimatelywent down to the wire and thatis good for the game,” said Jeev,who is the highest-ranked Indi-an in the world at 50.

“Gaganjeet (Bhullar) was a lit-tle nervous, which is quite un-derstandable considering thathe is just 21. But he has a lot ofpotential and will do a lot more

in the future,” he said about hiscompatriot and teammate inthat event. Jeev feels there is agreat scope for the growth of golfin India provided there are af-fordable facilities.

“There is just one public golfrange in the country and proba-bly just one public drivingrange. The day we have drivingranges that everybody can use —at some Rs50 per 100 balls or so— the game will grow in thecountry. With a population ofover one billion, who knowsthere could be a champion outthere,” Jeev said.

“Golf is the fastest growinggame in the country and nowthat it is in the Olympics, it isfantastic news for all of us.”

‘Woods’ absence will hurt golf ’Jeev Milkha Singhfeels world No.1may return afterthree months

Sherine Paul. MUMBAI

When he was 12, Henry Wanyoike de-cided that he would be a runner. TheKenyan lost his eyesight due to illnessseven years later but did not let any-thing come in the way of his goal.

The Paralympic gold medalist, worldtrack champion and nominee of theprestigious Laureus Sports Award, kepthis promise. Wanyoike, who is here to

compete in thehalf-marathon,recalled the dayhe lost hissight. “It was inApril, 1995. Isuffered astroke whichparalysed theleft side of mybody. I was just19 then. It was ahuge shock anda major set-back,” he said.Despite the

odds, he decided to follow his dream.“There was no support from my family.I lost many friends too. We did not haveenough money for a surgery. But I wasdetermined to fight.” Together with hisguide and childhood friend Joseph Ki-bunja, Wanyoike overcame his fearsand started training so that he couldrun again.

Joseph, who was a carpenter, now ac-companies Henry as his guide inmarathons. “I feel really fortunate tohave become a runner as I never knewthat I had that talent in me,” he said.The duo hopes to complete the half-marathon course in 1 hr 20 min. TheKenyan athlete shared some tips andhad a training session with a few youngwomen from the Hamara Foundation atthe University Pavilion in Marine Lineson Tuesday.

Wanyoike signed off by saying: “Selfconfidence is a big factor. One should be-lieve in oneself. If you keep your focusright then nothing is impossible.”

‘I lost my sight,not vision’

HEROES: HenryWanyoike (centre)and Joseph Skibunja

DEV S SUKUMAR

Jeev Milkha Singh

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