Getting it right

In case you missed the month long madness in South Africa, you’d have to chance it four years later in Brazil. Sixteen years back, when an apartheid torn South Africa, were wielding ways to emerge from the despair, it would have required a magnanimous effort to wash the wrong doings. For those of the Mandela era would have been absolutely proud to watch the universal sport decorate its wonderful continent. As in any pre-event drama, FIFA were cautious of the preparedness of South Africa and its ability to provide ample security to the delegation. Though there were a few blips outside the arena, the security was top class. Over the few years, South Africa has fast emerged as world’s sporting and entertainment corridor. If anything, this event was grand and immense in many aspects and truly lived to its expectations. Watching the action, mostly from home, one thought kept running in mind; when would India ever play in a FIFA World cup, will it ever happen in my life time? It's a thou

Isn’t there an uncanny parallel between the way Indian Hockey and West Indies cricket have conducted themselves over the years? One can evidence each any every move made by the Indian Hockey to have already been made by West Indies cricket. What did they achieve in doing that is the inference the Indian Hockey should have made a long time ago. The National game is clearly in a state of shambles. While the recently concluded World cup has ignited some level of lost interest, it is only for the sport and not for the Indian players. It was an absolutely terrible performance by the entire staff of Indian Hockey. Clearly they looked out of sorts and were found wanting. It's a deep rooted problem that the sport is facing in India. It’s not that we are starving for skill and talent. It is the shortage of refinement techniques and inability to mould the talent into skill. And where can we find the refinement and the moulding tools. It’s at the grass root levels; in schools and colleges. An