Reassignment of 61 Cav could signal end of equestrian sport in India

Riders mounted on perfectly groomed horses make for a pretty picture anywhere in the world. That perhaps would be the reason why cavalry has been such an integral part of ceremonies all over the globe. Ceremonies apart, horse riding in itself is not for a faint-hearted. And when it comes to competitive riding, 61 Cavalry has few parallels, being the only horse-mounted regiment in the world.
Raised in 1953 with riders drawn from various princely states of the time, the 211-strong 61 Cavalry continues to be the nursery for equestrian sports in India. All Asian Games medals in equestrian right from 1982 (3 gold, a silver and a bronze) to 2018 (Fouaad Mirza) have all been connected with the regiment in one way or another!
While the 1982 gold medalists Dfr Raghubir Singh and Col Rupinder Singh Brar (later commandant) both served with 61 Cavalry, Mirza's grandfather was a part of the regiment and as a youngster the Jakarta silver medalist earned his spurs on cavalry mounts!
Besides there are innumerable horse polo players connected with the regiment. The 1995 world polo championship (14-goal) finals in St Moritz, Switzerland, saw India's maiden appearance led by then 61 Cavalry commandant, Col Kuldeep Singh Garcha, an Arjuna Awardee for horse polo. That the team comprised of mainly players drawn from 61 Cavalry pedigree is hardly a surprise.
Col Jagdeep Singh Virk went on to later command 61 Cavalry, Col Bhawani Singh served 61 Cavalry before he commanded the prestigious President's Bodyguards (PBG) while the Godara brothers Manupal and Dhruvpal, honed their riding skills during their father Lt Col Udai Pal Singh Godara's tenure in the regiment where he was second-in-command  to Col Garcha before retirement.
Present national polo coach Uday Kalaan also has his father Lt. Col Raj Kalaan's connect with PBG and 61 Cavalry, which he commanded before retirement, to thank for his love for riding.
With so much of history and tradition tied to one single regiment, it is quite surprising that the Army headquarters is seriously considering replacing the horses with tanks. Given that the Jaipur based 61 Cavalry is indeed part of the Armoured Corps, its three squadrons are split between Delhi and the Rajasthan captial, which is steeped in polo history apart from other things.
The 100-acre campus for 61 Cavalry, complete with stables, was in fact donated by then Maharaja of Jaipur, Col Sawai Man Singh, himself a keen rider and polo player. The Maharaja led a crack team that included one of the finest polo players ever - Rao Raja Hanut Singh - on an all conquering tour of Europe and England in 1920s is part of polo folklore.
Even though the top handicapped (10-goal) players ever in India - Gen Chanda Singh and Gen Jaswant Singh - belonged to Patiala, Rajasthan has been the traditional torch-bearer for horse polo in the country. That no Rajasthan player ever went beyond nine goals was in deference to the royalty. Sawai Man Singh was rated a 9-goaler and that magical number was not to be breached at least during his lifetime.
That apart, 61 Cavalry is India's last remaining connect to the famous 1918 Battle of Haifa (now in Israel) which involved the riders from Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Mysore. The regiment continues to celebrate September 23 as Haifa Day, made immortal in New Delhi by the statues of the three lancers at the famous Teen Murti roundabout.
Armoured regiments still proudly carry names like Poona Horse and Deccan Horse, evidence of their mounted pedigree which in due course was replaced by the noisy metal monsters of today.
To keep history and tradition alive, it is important that 61 Cavalry remains untouched even as it continues to be the unique supply line for equestrian sports in India. Or else, riding into the sunset may be what the future could bring!

Cricket now needs Test matches more than ever

Not so long ago, many epitaphs were penned announcing the death of Test match cricket. The game was said to have moved on with shorter formats gaining far better traction with people. So true! Only it is proving to be as long-lasting as attraction to instant coffee or, better still, fast food!
Sport is all about celebrating superlative performance! Its a celebration of better skills, both physical and mental, than the average human can be expected to possess! That is the reason why champions are placed on a pedestal to be admired and their achievements serve as challenges to the rest of the world.
That's exactly what Test matches are to the game of cricket. The crucible where talent is ground to perfection and performances scanned under microscopes as player after player displays his talent. Test cricket, now played over five days, is the true examination of all that international sporting competition requires ... fitness, skill and stamina (both physical as well as mental).
Shorter formats appear more spectacular and may seem to be more marketable but that is like picking a burger over a traditional masala dosa!
Over limit cricket may pack the action into a shorter span of time but the skills and mental toughness required for these slam-bang contests must be honed through long hours on the field. And the grind can only come through Test match cricket.
There haven't been many players who made a stunning arrival through the limited overs game but hung around long enough to achieve legend status. The short game also gives players short careers as they lack the maturity of technique and temperament for the long haul. Within a few seasons such players are jaded and fade away, sinking without a trace.
The advent of 20-over leagues has thrown up plenty of overnight stars but come the dawn, few seem to be fit for repeating the performances game after game, night after night! Stroke play may have got creative but when its crunch time, the correctness of pure cricketing technique is what wins the bigger battles.
Without the staying power needed to play Test match cricket, batting through full 20 overs appears a burden when Tests could require batsmen to go through more than a full day at the crease. Same goes for bowlers and fielders. Sending down a maximum of certain number of overs leaves the bowlers with no room for experiment and makes them more automatons than creative artistes. Fielding is a chore that players may loathe but when its a battle for survival, Tests push the limits of human endurance.
Of late, Test match cricket may have lost a fair bit of its sheen but the responsibility rests squarely on Australia, England and India to show the way and rekindle interest, as suggested by former Australian captain Greg Chappell. If these big three cannot do it, the game of cricket may suffer ... making it different only in patches from the far more popular baseball.
Hitting the ball out of the park is the highlight of both sports. But that's where the  similarity should end. And for that to happen cricket needs youngsters to be hooked on to Test match cricket for a sound foundation. Else cricket may soon be be robbed of the special display of skill that attracts the fans!

If cricket must bow down, other sports don't stand a chance

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has come out with a list of 54 approved national sports federations, keeping several out of its purview. Strict enforcement of the national sports code of 2011 has resulted in this fate for various sports bodies as they struggle to meet the tough requirements as well as other administrative reforms envisaged in the code.
Board of Control for Cricket in India resisted for long coming under the scrutiny of the National Anti-Doping Agency, the affiliated body of WADA, which was long accepted by ICC. That BCCI had little choice but to fall in line is ample evidence that the mandarins of sports ministry will not hesitate to crack the whip against erring federations.
Cricket not just happens to be the richest sports federation in the country but also has its independent resources like stadia and other facilities. Yet BCCI must still seek government approval when it comes to matters related to foreign exchange. That appears to be the tipping point for BCCI which knew its resistance was meaningless since it must obtain clearance from Reserve Bank of India for every such transaction.
Government approval is key for all sports since their participation in competitions abroad is dependent upon it. Training facilities also belong to the government, run through its implementation arm, the Sports Authority of India.
Payment of salaries for coaches, both foreign and home-grown, as well as permanent staff of almost all sports federations is dependent on government grants. And these come with the rider that the sports code must be accepted and followed in letter and spirit.
One of the biggest bones of contention is the fixed tenure for elected federation officials. 
Horse polo seems to be one of the sports to have successfully avoided censure by having ex-officio president and secretary. The Chief of Army Staff heads IPA and commandant of the world's only mounted regiment, the 61st Cavalry, serves as secretary general. Terms are solely dependent on the length of service in the official positions!
People in power, used to running the federations like personal fiefdoms, are reluctant to let go but now seem to have reached the end of the rope as the sports ministry hardens its stance.
The ministry's offer of appointing paid chief executives, whose complete cost would be borne by the government, has only added to the misery of federations. The move ensures that government has a say in all affairs, including selection, training and participation in competitions abroad. 
To maintain their "autonomy", several federations tried in vain to assert themselves through international body diktats but all came a cropper. Now with the sports ministry not willing to relent, may be the time has come for Indian sports to start working with the government. After all the government picks up the tab!

Leg before laws could do with a shake-up

Leg before wicket is one of the most contentious dismissals in the game of cricket. One side always feels let down because so much depends upon the "opinion of the umpire"! And the advent of technological gadgets like ball tracking and virtual imagery has made an umpire's job already tough enough without having to rely on his personal judgement to give a verdict which then would be dissected from all angles for correctness as well as fairness!
A recent suggestion by former Australian captain Ian Chappell to completely overhaul the LBW laws does make a lot of sense and is definitely worth a serious look by the MCC, guardians of the laws of cricket, as well as ICC.
Chappell wants the point of impact, spot where ball landed and whether a stroke was attempted or not ... all done away with. He says the only thing that should matter is whether the delivery was going on to hit the stumps or not. 
He does have a point. His fellow Australian Shane Warne's much celebrated "ball of 20th century" that clattered into then England captain Mike Gatting's stumps around his legs would have come to nought if the batsman's pad had got involved. The ball certainly pitched outside leg, ruling out even an appeal for a leg before dismissal.
Interestingly if Gatting had chosen to play the reverse sweep and still missed but ball hit his pads, the decision would have still gone in his favour even though he had deliberately changed his stance. Bowler must inform the umpire, who in turn tells the batsman, whether its left or right arm and if its going to be over or around the stumps! Its sacrosanct and can only be changed after informing the umpire all over again.
The extra protection against LBWs was added for the batsmen who had to play on uncovered wickets where the ball did plenty. But in these days of covered wickets and neutral umpires, the additional safety features appear to be putting bowlers in a strait-jacket, being denied the option of a fully legitimate angle of attack.
Bat should be the only implement that a batsman can legitimately use. Pads and other pieces of protective gear are just that ... to safeguard a player from incurring physical harm through impact by a cricket ball. Pads can never be allowed as defence, something that is almost the norm when facing leg spinners trying to turn the ball back into the batsman!
It needs a quick eye and smart footwork to change the line of attack or defence, as the case may be. It's only fair that the bowler who can give the ball enough of a tweak to bring it crashing back into the stumps deserves a better deal.
Change would make batsmen wary of padding up to deliveries and make them bolder with their stroke-play.
Game of cricket is all about scoring runs but giving bowlers a fair chance will make the contest between bat and ball more interesting!

Sourav Ganguly could still head BCCI till 2024

Unusual times call for unusual actions. Some of them can prove rather beneficial, as may be the case with the Board of Control for Cricket in India which may see former national team captain Sourav Ganguly's current tenure as president extended till 2024.
Among the reforms mooted by the Supreme Court appointed committee to look into the BCCI affairs was the mandatory one year cooling off period after two successive tenures in office in either state association or the board itself. That would see Ganguly complete six years as head of the Cricket Association of Bengal in September and push him into the "cooler" barely 10 months into his term as BCCI supremo.
Now with the Covid19 pandemic having thrown normal life totally out of kilt, the SC may have little option but to take a lenient view. The December 2019 resolution of the BCCI annual general meeting chooses to treat tenures in states and the board as separate without one affecting the other. Obviously with SC approval awaited, BCCI and Ganguly can do little but wait.
Closures due to pandemic may have answered the tenure question for BCCI as holding an AGM in September or for that matter till the end of the current year may not be practical. And for the sake of continuity, the highest court of the land would do well to allow Ganguly to stay in office for the maximum five years as BCCI boss.
A precedent has already come from international hockey where the FIH deferred its October 28, 2020, congress by a whole year thereby granting a 12-month extension to incumbent Narinder Dhruv Batra and the entire executive board. 
It may be argued that it is too early to take such an important decision. But leaving it late will help none, least of all the game of cricket.
The entire cricket world is looking at the richest national board to show the way out of the present crisis. Ganguly, has been decisive in leading BCCI in these uncertain times, very much like the leader he emerged when handed the reins of Team India, again in rather troubled circumstances!
At least BCCI has indicated to the SC that it hopes to keep Ganguly at the helm. Learned judges will take the final call ... and hopefully allow the Bengal Tiger full five years as BCCI top man.

FIFA gets proactive as football shows the way

Football has taken the first tentative steps towards getting things back on track. Matches in the Korean league started behind locked doors and the international governing body FIFA has been quick to announce rule changes to better accommodate the new circumstances.
FIFA has allowed five substitutes per game instead of the previous three but allowing them to be made only on three opportunities apart from half-time to minimise stoppages in a game. If both teams make a substitution each at the same time, each uses up an opportunity, says the new rule applicable only to competitions scheduled to end in 2020.
The governing body, however, has been silent on the more divisive and potentially dangerous issue of spitting, a common sight in football. An advisory is expected in this regard but how effective will that be can only be gauged after more action unfolds. With so much physical effort being given on the pitch, a spit may be a small issue since all present would have been medically cleared beforehand.
Nothing surprising though about the changes announced by FIFA but the speed with which the proactive decision was taken is a miracle indeed. The International Football Association Board is required to approve all rule changes and it did just that within an extremely short span of time shows that powers that be are fully aware, and concerned, about the damaging effects of long-term closure.
The IFAB comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland football associations apart from FIFA, which represents the rest of the world. 
German Bundesliga faced a prospective loss of about 300 million euros, while Spanish La Liga is looking at an even bigger financial hit. UEFA too pushed its case well and has requested member nations to wrap up their domestic fixtures by July so that the prestigious Champions League can be completed by August 29. England's Premier League can't be kept in suspension for long though it may be tougher to restart the Italian Serie A after almost half a dozen players and staff from one leading club tested positive for the dreaded Covid-19 virus a few days ago.
All this, however, is subject to very tight health controls and, quite expectedly, scrutiny at every level is bound to be tough! Any mis-step could bring all the effort to nought even though TV companies at the moment appear upbeat at the prospect of getting back to Live sports coverage!
The world watches with bated breath as football shows the way. If successful, other sports would be quick to follow!

Amateur boxing in turmoil as AIBA struggles to stay relevant

The world of boxing is quite used to controversies. But the latest spat between the international amateur boxing federation AIBA and the Boxing Federation of India certainly appears to be bullying tactics by the former as it struggles to stay relevant.
With professional boxing already cornering much of the glory, amateur fights have been relegated to a status of nurseries. The only highlight that AIBA had under its wings was the Olympic medals every four years. But after repeated warnings and suggestions by the International Olympic Committee were ignored, even that was taken out of its grasp quite along expected lines.
The much-vaunted World Boxing Championships lost a fair mount of sheen when the IOC withdrew its qualifying status. Till the 2016 Rio Olympics, all four medals winners of the previous year's world championships were automatic qualifiers for the quadrennial games. But with AIBA not willing to accept suggestions by IOC, particularly with regards how bouts were adjudicated, it was no surprise that the Olympic bosses chose to drop the bomb.
AIBA insisted on continuing with its closed judging of bouts, quite unlike to very successful experience of the 2008 Beijing Olympics where points earned by each boxer were put on public display outside the arena! AIBA's argument that scores inevitably reached the contestants taking the fight out of the bouts did not really wash with IOC who insisted on transparency.
Not just the Olympic qualifying, IOC also took away the AIBA's right to conduct the competition like other international sports federations. That means IOC would now appoint the ring-side jury members, crucial to closely contested bouts as is expected in Olympics, apart from the ring officials.
That took the wind out of AIBA sails and its prime mover, the world championships was considerably devalued.
Indian boxing officialdom, still struggling to find their feet after the fracas that led to the disbanding of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF), just found itself in the wrong place at the wrong time. AIBA wants to be tell the world who is Boss and cracking the whip at BFI is its way of doing it. Slapping a half-a-million-dollar fine on top of unclaimed dues takes the total money owed by BFI close to a million dollars! Nearly a third of that is money owed from the 2018 women's world championships in New Delhi.
BFI was still granted the hosting rights to the 2021 men's world championships, which has now been moved to Serbia for non-payment of the first installment of the bidding fees. The fees were due on December 1, 2019, long before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down most of the world. Obviously BFI's explanation about disruption of banking operations is an afterthought. The AIBA world championships no longer carried the same value following the IOC sanction.
Sadly, BFI and AIBA appear to be on collision course which would once again put participation of Indian pugilists in international competitions in jeopardy, as had happened not so long ago. Boxers admit its just not the same feeling fighting under the IOC flag rather than the national symbol!
With a forced suspension of all sporting activities, AIBA and BFI have time to mend fences before things reach breaking point. Already the credibility of amateur boxing has taken a huge hit with the Olympic Games taken out of its purview. About time AIBA got its house in order!