David Harte-inspired Mumbai Magicians hold Ranchi Rhinos 1-1

Winless Dabur Mumbai Magicians pulled off a spirited performance holding reigning champions Ranchi Rhinos to a 1-1 draw in the 2nd Hero Hockey India League at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi.

The Magicians came out fighting against their much-fancied opponents holding them at bay for the first two quarters despite being at the receiving end of Rhinos’ constant raids. In fact, the patience of the home crowd was tested as the Rhinos were not able to break the stalemate until the stroke of the third quarter when South African Justin Reid-Ross converted a penalty corner with a lethal flick that rattled the goalpost before rolling in.


Trailing by a goal going into the fourth quarter, the MK Kaushik-coached Mumbai outfit was extra determined not to let the Rhinos run away with the game. The Reds had an opportunity to double the lead early in the fourth quarter, but Magicians’ Irish goalkeeper David Harte brought off a splendid save, foiling Ashley Jackson’s flick.

David Harte was at his lethal best when he brilliant saved a stinging Ashley Jackson flick off a penalty corner to keep the Magicians in the contest. The fourth quarter clearly belonged to David Harte, who kept nullifying the goal-scoring designs of the Rhinos. The Irish goalkeeper was well supported by Vikas Pillay who effected a brilliant goalline save off a Justin Reid-Ross PC flick.

The Magicians were reduced to ten men when their Malaysian Mohammed Razi was stretchered off following a nasty tackle with Manpreet Singh.
Soon the Rhinos met the same fate when Justin Reid-Ross was yellow-carded after getting into a nasty collision with Prabhjot Singh.

The Magicians had two great chances to produce the match-winner but on both occasions Sarvanjit Singh and Prabhjot Singh failed to capitalize on those opportunities. Rhinos continue to occupy the fourth spot in the points table with 12 points from 4 games, while bottom-placed Mumbai Magicians have 4 points from as many games.

Sports infrastructure in North East needs a big lift!

It is always said that the Northeast region is a storehouse of precocious talents, but for reasons well known to all and sundry all the promises have never quite been translated into on-field glory. Of course, the region has churned out athletes who have battled the odds and scripted a podium finish in big-ticket events, but given the massive talents in this neck of the woods, it has to be said that the performance of our sportspersons haven’t quite matched their immense potential.

Dr. Talimeren Ao – the man who led the Indian men’s football in the 1948 London Olympics playing barefoot – is a household name not just in the North East but also all across the country. Bhogeshwar Baruah is another name who is talked about in glowing terms- Baruah’s achievement on the track has been phenomenal – he picked up a coveted gold in men’s 800 metres in the 1996 Bangkok Asian Games and in the process became the first athlete from the Assam to bag a medal in any international meet. In fact, Baruah’s exploits allowed him to be the first Arjuna Awardee from the North East. It’s a pity that the ace runner was given the job of a driver with ONGC after his retirement from the Army. A campaign was launched to demand a better job position for the Asian gold medallist and ONGC created the post of Regional Sports Officer for him.

Pugilist Dingko Singh is another one who captured the public imagination when he won the gold in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games stunning Thailand’s world number three Wong Prages Sontaya in the semifinals. Startlingly, Dingko, who had won the 1997 Kings Cup in Bangkok, was left out of the Asian Games contingent at the last minute before he was later included, which smacks off red-tapism and politicking synonymous with sport in the country.

Paddler Monalish Barua Mehta (got married to former national champion Kamlesh Mehta) brought laurels not just to the Assam but also to the North East region. And who can forget MC Mary Kom – the women who created history at the 2012 London Olympics becoming the first athlete from the North East to bag an Olympic medal and is probably the biggest sporting star of the region.

How have these athletes reached the top given the demoralizing infrastructure in the North East? Well, they have cornered glory by sheer dint of extreme dedication and hard work, and more importantly, not allowed themselves to be frustrated by lack of training facilities.

Talking of infrastructure, one has to understand that high quality Stadiums in the North East are few and far between. It’s sad but true that only when the National Games is allotted to any of the North Eastern states, the top-notch Stadiums are built.

Imphal got its Khuman Lampak Stadium (which also houses an astroturf and a cycling velodrome) after Manipur was awarded the hosting rights of the 1999 National Games. Similarly, Assam got its Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium (also known as Sarusajai Stadium) for hosting athletics and soccer besides the Maulana Md Tayyebulla Hockey Stadium in Bhetapara, after Assam won the bid to host the 2007 National Games. The setting up of the hockey Stadium gave a big lift to hockey infrastructure as the state did not have proper hockey infrastructure until then.  

One is not sure why the hosting of National Games wakes up the powers-that-be to realize the importance of providing top-class infrastructure for the athletes. National Games or no National Games, it’s the responsibility of the Sports Ministry and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to put the desired infrastructure in place. Of course, SAI runs various centres in the North East, but the question that needs to be asked is are these centres able to produce new talents or are the coaches employed at these centres motivated enough to put in the hard yards and churn out new talents. Job security of a SAI job can often lead to complacency creeping among the coaches, who can easily go about their business day in day out just for the heck of it.

The need of the hour is to create infrastructure for every discipline so that there is no paucity of training facilities for athletes. Be it the Khuman Lampak or Nehru Stadium, one invariably witness scores of athletes practicing at one point of time in the morning, which leaves a lot to be desired. Clearly, the dearth of practice facilities is hurting our sportspersons a lot.

The point is if our athletes have paucity of training facilities how do we expect them to shine in national and international events? Only when you have a proper infrastructure in place, you can expect players to get medals for you.

The current scenario is that: the moment a national federation announces the dates of nationals, our state bodies hamstrung by funds crunch and poor infrastructure, quickly summon shortlisted players to a camp and pick the final squad from the probables and send them for national events. One can’t blame the state bodies for such a plight. Unlike a cash-rich state cricket body, most non-cricket state associations struggle to stay afloat and this is where the corporate houses need to pitch in – you can’t expect government agencies to bail out state bodies time and again – again to attract corporate houses state associations must find a way to market the sport so that it achieves it desired result of lapping up sponsors.

Once a beginning is made in this regard, we can hope to see sports in the North East wear a more professional look!