HOOPER PROVES TO BE A LUCKY CHARM FOR THE BLACK STICKS

By Tushar Bhaduri

THE Kiwis may have had some extra encouragement as they upset the speedy Koreans in their third World Cup match on Friday.

Commonwealth Games Federation ( CGF) chief executive officer Mike Hooper was at hand to cheer his national team at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. His presence seemed to have worked wonders as the Black Sticks prevailed 2- 1. When the hooter went to signal full- time, Hooper exclaimed: “ That’s my team right there. They won!” On a slightly more serious note, he said the security concerns regarding October’s Commonwealth Games ( CWG) will be addressed during the three- day meeting of the chef- de- missions of the member countries in the Capital next week.

“ We have full faith that the Indian government and Delhi Police will provide adequate security for the Games.” Hooper added that the successful conduct of the hockey World Cup and the recent Commonwealth Shooting Championships will allay a lot of security concerns.

PLAYING TO EMPTY STANDS

It seems that the hockey lovers of the Capital couldn’t care less about the silken skills of Dutch captain Teun de Nooijer or the blistering drag- flicks of Taeke Taekema.

The Netherlands took on Canada and there were less than 10 percent seats occupied. This was in stark contrast to the near- capacity crowd during the India matches and the vociferous support that Pakistan got.

It was only some schoolchildren and a small bunch of expatriates who made all the noise on Friday. Even on the days when India is in action, the crowd swells up only in the evening as all the matches of the home team are slated at 8: 35 pm to allow the largest possible crowd to get in after office hours.

POWER WOES CONTINUE

The situation in the media enclosure does not seem to improve as far as the power situation is concerned.

The supply is very erratic and as most of the scribes are working on laptop computers, they had to switch them off due to lack of adequate battery back- up.

As the tournament is nearly a week old now, such deficiencies don’t do the country’s image any good.