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Roundup |
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World Teams Roundup ... from
Pradeep Vijayakar |
Support for Squash
in high places
 The
21st ICL World Men's Squash Championship had a delightful ending at
the Taj Conemara hotel on Wednesday. Two ladies holding high
positions in different international sporting federations held out
promise for squash gaining Olympic entry.
The first was Sarah Springman, president of the International
Triathlon Federation and the the vice-president of the Federation
Internationale de Hockey, Els vsn Breda Vriesman.
Sarah said : "We got into the Olympics in the shortest time. I will
show squash the way, all the best."
Sarah competed for ten years and was European champ six times,
British champ ten times and won the Hawaiian Iron Man Challenge. She
said swimming was her favourite sport but was biking champ too.
Sarah's squash connection was when she was working on a dam project
in Fiji. She played there and won the Fiji title in 1981-82.
Hockey official Els, a former international player, said: "We
respect squash because it is a dope free sport. That is a big reason
for it to get into the Oympics. The hockey federation will back
their efforts. ''
The consensus of the opinion is that it is more a political issue,
with voting involved. But most expect squash to get in by the 2016
games, provided standards are maintained. A case could be made for
PSA points to be given for performances in a World Championship so
that players take it seriously. And that the event is placed
suitably in the calendar and not squeezed in at the last. Indeed,
world champ Amr Shabana made noises in the media about two world
events being held back to back.
There was final evening merriment when the players had a sumptuous
dinner and discoed into the night, first at the hotel and later at
the Park disco, a happening place downtown.
As at the opening ceremony, so at the closing one, Maj Maniam,
director of coaching Asian Squash Federation in his other role as
emcee had the audience in splits with his wisecracks.
N Ramachandran, secretary of the Squash Rackets Federation of
India and president of the Asian federation, presented Rs 2.5 lakh
to the Indian team for their path-breaking No 8 finish in the event.
Saurav Ghoshal, who won the country's highest sporting award,
the Arjuna award, was also rewarded with a clock for his
achievement.
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A passion for squash
At the post-match conference World champ Amr Shabana said
squash was bound to grow in India, "because I see little kids
running here and there, that's the future."
It's this passion for squash that is remarkable about Indian squash.
This passion is reflected in the attitude of the parents and players
of all classes and generations.
Mumbai was once the hub of the sport, having world class events and
a flourishing local circuit. It still has a large number of
tournaments, a large mass of players and a system in place with
coaches like Tego Gomez from Mexico at the CCI academy,
World Sports Academy guided by Peter Nicol and run by Amar
Haksar in place at Bombay Gymkhana, and Indian Squash
Professionals bringing in Egyptian coaches like Sami Farrag,
one-time World No 33.
But the quality air-conditioned courts as we have at the ICL-SDAT
academy in Chennai are not there and players cannot prepare for
big-time squash with facilities as they exist in Mumbai.
Mumbai needs a centre like the ICL Academy. But there is a problem
of who will fund its running even though once N Ramachandran has
offered to set it up.
But if passion will take the boys through let it be so.
This passion can be seen in the Mumbai people who have come here for
the World Men's Team. There are professionals Chandrakant Pawar,
Sunil Verma, Vijay Jangra and Rohit More who attended the referees
clinic and doing refereeing here.
There are the champs of tomorrow with their parents: there's Mahesh
Mangaonkar with his mom Anjali who is filming the matches. Mahesh
has been training in Egypt and got to knock with Greg Gaultier.
Mahesh's guide Vaman Apte was also there. There's Abhishek Pradhan
with his dad, Aditya Jagtap with his parents. There's Pune coach
Deepak Moolani with his son.
Sunil Verma and wife have brought the kids from Jindal Squash
Academy which has four glass back courts. Laxman Joshi u-17
runner up is the best of them. There was Raj Aora with son Caran,
also Jahangir Surti and his kid and CCI veteran Chetan Ladiwalla.
South African referee Cecile van Rie says she was happy to meet many
kids and parents she has met at the British and Scottish juniors.
Bombay Gymkhana squash officials Harry Melwani and Sudhir
Sood came on Tuesday. Former national champs Akhil Behl and Manish
Chotrani also came. Manish's son, Vir, was sitting right between the
Egypt and Australia teams in the front row. "I was fearing he might
just barge into the court during a break to have a knock!"
Knock he did after the game, to the amusement of the French team
which played later.
These guys hail from Otters Club which is an ambitious squash
hub whose players/officials Rustum Dalal and Avi Bhavnani Indeed,
it's Mumbai's invasion of Chennai though people from Delhi and
Kolkata are also here.
They can be seen discussing the game animatedly every now and then.
Where can one see a such a collection of stars as here? PSA events
might always see one star missing or two.
The stars the fans and kids watch will stay in the mind's eye.
Hopefully they will inspire a champ to come forward.
Pakistani great Rahmat Khan came to Mumbai to coach. He
wanted to produce a world champ. But he wanted the work ethic of the
type Jahangir Khan showed which helped him conquer the pain barrier.
Bikram Uberoi was the most talented lad Rahmat found but he fell
away.
Hopefully there won't be wastage from the current lot. Because they
have seen what big-time squash is and they have their models to
emulate.
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'Best Ever' for India
An Indian team finished higher than the eighth place the current
one achieved here, but it was fifth out of six in the inaugural
event in 1967. Whereas it was No 8 out of 29 in 2008.
We were trying to figure out who would have been the members of the
first team. Raj Manchanda, India's long-time national squash
champion, had the answer: it was Anil Nayar, Ali Ispahani,
Sanjit Roy and Fali Madon.
Ispahani's a great story. He played a lot of squash in England at
Landsdowne Club where Rahmat Khan remembers playing with him. In
1967 he was returning to Madras via Bombay. His cousin, Baaqer
Shirazi, asked him to play in the Nationals which were being held in
the city. Ali agreed provided he would provide proper diet. Ali
played and beat Fali Madon to win the title.
Ali stays in Chennai but couldn't be at the world championships as
he was in the U.K. He played alongside Jonah Barrington but curses
the game: "My knees have been creaking ever since I played the
game." A big price to pay.
And who played for Pakistan? Rahmat Khan provided some possible
names: Aftab Javed, Salim, Gogi Allauddin,
Meerand Sajid,
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Indian Squash in Good Hands
Much water has flown down the Sutlej and Ganges since that first
world event when India finished ahead of Pakistan, whose giants like
Roshan Khan and Azam Khan didn't play. But we had a repeat of India
finishing ahead of them when both countries were at full strength in
Chennai 2008. India 8, Pakistan 9.
Indian squash can only go higher from here. As Amr Shabana said:
"Seeing so many young kids running here and there at the Indian
Cements Academy, I can only see a bright future for Indian squash."
A six-year-old kid Vir, the son of former national champ Manish
Chotrani, would be seen entering the courts when they were free and
knocking the ball around, oblivious to anything around him. It moved
David Palmer to have a knock with him. We may have seen the
world-class future of Indian squash there.
But Manish, a stroke-playing artist, also knew the pitfalls in that
after watching the world event here. He said: "It's hard work
playing at this level. How many can do that?"
How many Indian kids are ready for that ? There are the Aditya
Jagtaps, the Mahesh Manganokars, the Deepika Pillais, the Paranjpes
are not averse to spending hours in strange places like Egypt to
further their game. And the likes of Mahendra Agarwal's Indian
Squash Professionals get Egyptians coaches like Sammy Farrag in
Mumbai to get top class coaching to kids who cannot afford to send
their kids there.
Indian squash is in good hands, on and off the court.
That's the message from a world-class World event conducted by
India.
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These
remarks were not about the 21st ICL World Men’s Team Squash
Championship here. But it was about the referees clinic conducted
ahead of the event by Canada’s Rod Symington assisted by
Australian world referee Chris Sinclair.
