Heart-breaking end to dream

K DATTA

Though India failed to qualify for the knockout stage of the Asian Cup football tournament last month in United Arab Emirates. it was far from disgraced. There were positives to be had even in defeat. It was a penalty heart-breakingly conceded in the 90th minute that shattered India’s dream. A draw against Bahrain was all India needed on that luckless night of January 17 to make it to the knockout round from the fourteam Group A league which included Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Pronob Haldar hacked down Hamed Alshmsan and Rashed found the net from the dreaded spot with a crisp shot which gave goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh no chance.

Luck plays a big part for success in sport. That was something India lacked when it mattered. After emphatically defeating Thailand, 4-1 the Stephen Constantine-managed Indian team should have sealed its place in the knockout rounds if only the forwards had converted their chances in the game against the UAE.. But Lady Luck let them down. Among the several chances wasted were two shots which beat the rival goalkeeper but rebounded back into play after crashing into the cross-bar.
Constantine, who had done well to raise the standing of Indian football to 97 in the world from a poor ranking in the 150s in the four years he had managed the national team, promptly announced his decision to step down, though noone has gone on record blaming the Englishman.

That a new and refreshing vigour has come to the Indian football team is easy to see. It is welcome change that more and more people are talking about football. Players like Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sandesh Jhingan, Gurpreet Singh, to mention just a few, have found fame. More new names are coming into club football. See the way Real Kashmir has cemented its place in the I-League. That, rather than the ISL (Indian Super League) is the official national league and every effort should be made to give it its due premier importance.

Budding champions

Manavaditya Singh Rathore and Devanshi Rana The organizers deserve a pat the back for the way they staged the Khelo India Youth Games. The sporting youth of the country now look forward to the event as an important platform to parade their talent, an ideal stepping stone for budding champions. Prominent among these are Union sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s son, Manavaditya, who bagged the gold medal in trap, and Devanshi Rana, daughter of former national champion, who won the 25 metres pistol event.

Although an elite sport, shooting is gaining popularity across the country. Eleven states won at least one of the 19 shooting gold medals in the Khelo India Games, with Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana at the forefront.
The finals highlighted some intense rivalries, with one of the magical moments being the victory of Dhanush Srikanth, the hearing-impaired gold medallist. Needless to say, the country has a bright future in shooting.

That the event took place so close to exam time was a cause of worry. Education is a priority. Don’t forget, parents put their children to school to see them get educated. Manu Bhakar, the rising shooter from Jhajjar, Haryana, decided to give the Pune games the miss because the approaching state education board exams.

Then there children like the unheard of Tanushree Roy, 15, daughter of an e-rickshaw puller, who brought her books along with her so could she could study when not playing kabaddi for her West Bengal team. Her 10th class exams were due start on February 12. .Col. Rathore and his planners at the sports ministry more could think of more suitable dates.



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