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City
in trouble
The
fading glory of the Indians
City in trouble By Zain Qureshi As many armchair
historians and cult-like believers in obscurity would have us believe,
the Mayans had predicted the world would end in 2012. Upon closer
inspection, one finds that it is more a case of the Mayan calendar that
ends in this year, and linking the same with the end of the world
requires a tedious extrapolation of abilities of premonition when
talking about a race who, for all intents and purposes, did not pencil
in the time of their own extinction. I find this last fact to be damning
evidence to support the idea that one should not plan out so far into
the future without appreciating every step of the road that leads us
there. In their own way, Manchester City are guilty of the same sin;
prematurely fancying without thorough appreciation of the dangers that litter
their road to the end, not of the world, but at least of the European
football season of 2011-12. City ended 2011
sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table for the first time
in more than three decades, and that too deservedly. Roberto Mancini’s
squad of recent hires had lit up the Premier League with excellent
displays up and down the pitch. In goal, Joe Hart was something like an
elastic brick wall, making himself larger when blocking shots than it
seemed he was when standing alone in the penalty area. The back four included
Gael Clichy and Pablo Zabaleta as left and right full backs, while
Joleon Lescott and the outstanding Vincent Kompany combined skill and
brute force to harangue opposition attackers. Patrolling deep in
midfield was either the industrious Gareth Barry, James Milner or the
no-nonsense Nigel De Jong, while Yaya Toure made endless box to box
runs, both breaking up play and being the starting point of City’s
attacks. It was here though, in the final third of the pitch that
City’s true strength lay, with the ethereal David Silva pulling the
strings to unleash an attack comprising of Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero
and Edin Dzeko. City moved the ball
around the field beautifully, and that too not just with long balls
lobbed from deep in their half. Toure and Silva are both practitioners
of a more Spanish brand of football, which is not direct in the way the
English game is known to be. Quick one-two passes and incisive through
balls to meet intelligent diagonal runs behind opposition defenders
became the norm at the newly renamed Etihad (formerly City of
Manchester, or alternatively, Eastlands) Stadium, as City went about in
their bid to get more silverware to place alongside last season’s FA
Cup winner’s trophy. The New Year has not
brought the riches and rewards looked forward to at the start of
January, as a bout of inconsistency saw City exit the two domestic cup
competitions with ignominy. The year started off poorly with a league
loss to Sunderland. While any doubts about impending weaknesses were
assuaged thanks to a 3-0 thumping of Liverpool, that game was followed
by a loss to the side Mancini has been chiefly charged with overcoming,
Manchester United. City lost to United 2-3 at home and thus had their
potential list of silverware for the season reduced by one. Note that
City had already suffered an exit from the Champions League in December,
and will have to play in the Europa League as a consequence. Still, a
European cup, a remaining domestic cup and the Premier League were there
for the taking still, and City set to their task, ready to host a
Liverpool side they had only recently trounced. This match was the
first leg of the Carling Cup bout between the two, and for all their
flare, and thanks in no small part to a swathe of missed chances, City
lost the match 1-0, conceding a crucial away goal that would come back
to haunt them in the away leg in Liverpool. In the intervening two
weeks, City meted out defeats to Tottenham and Wigan, but all of a
sudden, had to be wary of a Manchester United side who were continually
snapping at their heels. The unavailability of key figures such as
Vincent Kompany, Nigel De Jong and Yaya Toure through a mix of injury,
suspension and international duty meant that the starting eleven had to
be shuffled, and the rhythm of the side was upset. City ended the month
with an aggregate loss to Liverpool in the Carling Cup, and were handed
defeat in the same city a week later when they returned to face Everton. Mancini had sounded
reassured at the end of 2012 when he said that if City were at the top
of the table at the end of January, they would have a good chance to
take the title. While this shows an adequate understanding of what can
happen when one of the key cogs in the City war machine, namely Yaya
Toure, is absent, not enough was done to fill the void left behind by
the lanky Ivorian. Toure is still a week away from his return to
Manchester, and the club will be hoping that they can build on the
paper-thin lead they hold over Manchester United. City are technically
ahead of United on goal difference, and this is as tenuous a lead as
there ever was. Sir Alex Ferguson has recalled Paul Scholes from
retirement, having realised his current squad, burgeoning though it is
with youth and talent, does not have what it takes to overcome the
relentless pressure of the second half of the season. In contrast,
Manchester City have to chart new grounds in their pursuit of glory. Time is not quite on
their side, as it is only a matter of a single dropped point that would
gift Manchester United the lead at the head of the table, and City’s
world of dreams may yet come collapsing down around them. zainhq@gmail.com
Role
of sports in nation building Millions of people
across the length and breath of our country celebrated Pakistan’s
series-winning triumph in Abu Dhabi late last month. The cricket victory
brought much-awaited happiness, relief and joy for us thus testifying
the statement of King of Bhutan who said that “gross national
happiness is more important than gross national product and therefore
happiness takes precedence over economic prosperity in worst of
financial crises”. Nation building is
indeed a complex phenomenon and the tool of sport alone is not enough to
execute this mammoth task, but sociologists agree that sport is one of
the most potent human activities in its capacity to give meaning to
life, to create and interconnect senses of achievement and identity.
Above all, sport has a complex and important interaction with
nationality and the phenomenon of nationalism. Pakistan’s
leadership has to realise that sport is a gold mine of occupational
skills to access the labour market as one of the very unique assets in
the present global economy for a country like Pakistan. An athlete or a
sportsperson, apart from being a globetrotter, may acquire through its
sport career, basic competences and skills such as fair play, self
esteem, honesty, trust and leadership, but also those specific to a job
such as sensitivity to diversity, client awareness, generating
synergies, team building and taking care of people around him. Unlike our leadership
that renders no hope for its young generation because of its
incompetence and myopic vision, Pierre Nkurunziza, the president of the
Republic of Burundi, affirmed that “in recent years, sport has become
a truly unifying element in my country and we have made initiatives to
make sport a tool of nation building thus strengthening social cohesion
and peace in Burundi.” In the
post-Colonialism and Development phase spanning from 1940 to 1990s,
sport was a highly contested field. For instance, in the Caribbean,
cricket served to dramatise struggles of liberation, notably through
victories over England. Following independence, the new elites in many
Third World nations were integrated into the global governance of major
sports. FIFA grew from 54 to 149 in the same period and sport governing
bodies prioritised the global development of sport, which mirrored the
modernisation policies favoured by international bodies like the IMF and
World Bank. When we look into our
sports and leadership perspectives we observe nothing but shock waves,
and our inability to cash upon various opportunities available to use
sport as a tool of development, peace and nation building with the help
of international stake holders like UN, EU, UNESCO, UNICEF and UNHCR. Sports sociologists
have conducted scientific studies in many developing countries to prove
the premise that sport plays a pivotal role in social and economic
vitality of any nation. Three markets — sports activities, sports
equipment, and sports events — interact to set the wheels in motion
for an economic development which cannot be ignored and which creates a
growing economic sector. Sport has become not only a consumer good, but
consumes goods itself. It generates economic wealth and jobs, and at the
same time brings health and educational benefits to those who practice
it. During an important
presentation on national sports policy given by Brig (Retd) Arif Sidiqui,
the ex DG of Pakistan Sports Board, he made a mention of sports as a
tool for nation building to then President Perveez Musharaf, but the
visionary president like most of the dictators bulldozed the idea,
because sport was too little a tool in his envisaged larger picture of
nation building, which he hardly executed. The situation with the
present government of Punjab is also not different. It is trying to
construct play grounds at various places which were held by land mafia,
within and around the vicinity of the historic city of Lahore. This is
indeed a good omen. However, this healthy step is likely to meet with
unhealthy outcomes like Punjab health or education sector reforms,
because its entire focus is activity-oriented, managed by untrained
staff, that lacks capacity to run sports development and sport for
society building programmes for the youth. Unfortunately the approach
and understanding of sports for development and nation building with
government of Punjab is very similar to many others in the country, who
link sports development with infrastructure development only. African countries
offer a great learning opportunity to us, especially in the Central
African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho,
Mozambique and the Olympafrica Foundation, which is financed by the
International Olympic Committee and Daimler Chrystler, has built simple
sporting facilities and installed basic equipment to promote sports
activities particularly in track and field. For about twenty years
now, international sporting federations such as FIBA, FIFA and FIVB have
financed the construction of playing fields and have donated equipment
worth millions of dollars. While their number one goal is to promote
their own sport, these international federation projects have had
significant economic returns in the countries where assistance has been
provided. How much forthcoming
had been our sports bodies in enchasing upon such opportunities is
evident from the fact that most of them are unable to write a proper
letter of assistance to concerned stakeholders. The ministry of sports,
POA and PSB instead of dreaming of staging SAAF or Asian Games in
Pakistan, should first put their house in order and learn from the
Balkan nations, Ruanda, Palestine, Jordan, Congo, Tanzania and South
Africa of using sports for nation building and achieving development
objectives. Sport for Nation
building programmes are highly specialised, and if left to incompetent
and untrained staff, than the results could be as catastrophic as it
happened during and after a football match in the Egyptian city of Port
Said, where more than 70 people lost their precious lives due to
concussion and stabbing. Successive governments
in Pakistan have failed to capitalise on sport for all and development
aspect of sport which is mandatory to create a solid foundation of
sports culture in the country. Excellence in competitive sport at
international level is not possible without investment in sport for all
initiatives starting at club and school level. It is therefore
imperative that sport related interventions be introduced in good faith
and in detail, and not as a mere medium of ‘soft power’ that enables
external or sectional interests to secure control over populations.
The
fading glory of the Indians Another series abroad,
another 0-4 whitewash is the short history of Indian cricket team in
recent months. After suffering the
humiliation of a 0-4 whitewash against England last year, the Indian
cricket team won the home Test series against West Indies 2-0, which
provided some solace to their fans. Before the Australian
tour, the critics thought it was the best opportunity for the Indians to
win a Test series in Australia. They thought it would be difficult for
the inexperienced Aussie bowlers to bowl out the famed Indian batting
line up twice in a Test. But super fit and
mentally tough Australia proved all calculations wrong with a highly
unexpected 4-0 Test series win over India. Failure of the Indian
batting can be judged from the fact that no Indian batsman scored over
300 runs in 8 innings. Virat Kohli was the highest scorer from India
with 300 runs, which included the only century of the series from the
Indian side. Sachin Tendulkar,
under pressure to reach his hundredth hundred, fell twice very close to
that achievement. He managed 287 runs in eight innings, including two
fifties with a high score of 80. The Australian bowlers
also cracked the defence of Rahul Dravid, popularly called ‘The
Wall’ of the Indian cricket. He managed only 194 runs in the series
with only one fifty. But the most interesting thing was that Dravid, who
is known for his solid defence, set a new world record of getting out
bowled the highest number of times in Test cricket. He has so far been
bowled 55 times, more than Australian skipper Allan Border who was
bowled 53 occasions. The ‘Very Very
Special’ Laxman who has almost always been successful against the
Aussies failed to perform in what certainly was his last tour down
under. He scored just 155 runs in 8 innings, averaging a pitiable 19.37.
Openers Virender
Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir also faltered, making just 198 and 181 runs,
respectively. The top order
disappointment increased the pressure on middle-order which it failed to
bear. Skipper MS Dhoni became a target of critics for his poor batting
performance as he scored only 102 runs in three matches and became the
first Indian captain to lose eight straight Tests abroad. Sometime back he was
being called the luckiest captain for his victories in Twenty20 World
Cup in 2007 and ICC World Cup 2011 and for pushing the Indian side to
the top position in the ICC Test ranking. But after the two
successive whitewashes abroad, Indian media have strongly criticised
team India’s performance and demanded that seniors retire and Dhoni
step down. Dhoni has offered that
if there is a better man available, he is ready to surrender, but at the
same time he also blamed selectors for not giving him the team he
wanted. On the other hand, the
Australian skipper Michael Clarke led his side from the front and
remained the most successful batsman of the series with 626 runs in six
innings at an average of over 125. He scored one triple and one double
hundred in the series. The 37-year-old Ricky
Ponting silenced his critics with his consistence performance as he
scored 544 runs in six innings with the help of two centuries and three
fifties at an average of 59. Not only the Indian
batting crumbled in the Test series, but their bowlers also failed to
use the conditions well. Zaheer Khan (15) Yadav (14) and Ishant Sharma
(5) shared 34 wickets at averages of 31.80, 39.35 and 90.20,
respectively. Spinner Ashwin who was preferred over experienced
Harbhajan Singh took only nine wickets with a high average of 62.77. For Australia, only
two fast bowlers Hilfenhaus (27) and Siddle (23) shared 50 wickets with
the average of just 17.22 and 18.65, respectively. The Indian team’s
performance has been going from bad to worse since Gary Kirsten resigned
as the coach and Duncan Fletcher took charge. After losing top ICC
ranking, now they stand on the third place with 111 rating points.
Australia are just behind them with 111 points. They are expected to
snatch the third position from team India after the West Indies tour
next month. Fletcher has lost 12
of the 13 Tests in which he acted as coach on the Australian soil, first
of England and now of India. In 2002-03, when
Fletcher brought over an England team to Australia, the visitors were
drubbed 4-1. The 2005 visit Down Under was worse as the hosts wiped the
floor clean with an English side by a 5-0 margin. Khurrams87@yahoo.com |
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