Asia Cup: Tit bits here and there, Part II
KUANTAN DIARY :
Did you watch IPL? Asked John Wright, a neutral umpire from South Africa. He says the IPL is a great hit in South Africa. “Stands are full, though tickets are costly”, he said. He said he saw quite a few matches at Pretoria. The rugby’s Super 14 (a domestic competition with five franchise teams from South Africa and New Zealand and four from Australia). Which is more popular now, IPL or Super 14. “Must be both. But I think it is IPL”, he confesses. You Indians have lot of money for cricket” How much did you spend to get the IPL ticket? I asked. No, not at all. I am a member of a committee in South African Cricket body. We all got free tickets”. Good move.
Each visiting team has one local Liaison Officer and a security Officer in civil dress. They are given specific business card as well. Azli (his asli name is Mohad Azli bin Jaafar) is LO for Bangladesh team. He says he played hockey for ten or 12 days at school before deciding to give off. I asked, why? The instructor told me I cannot turn my body this way or that way, and I did not like it. Now I saw the players move any direction freely. It was not so then? I can only curse the game of hockey, its complex rules and how many Azlis we lost. One titbit with him: When I told asli in hindi means ‘original’ and so you are a original LO, he replied: “In malay also asli means original. So, languages are simple and all encompassing, unlike hockey which is cumbersome and complex.
One man you always encounter here is, German Gerrard Rach, who does not need any introduction in India. He is now coach of Bangladesh team, with his trusted lieutenant Oliver Kurtz. This team also has a German video analyst. He says he is happy to see Arjun Halappa and Vikram Pillay back in the team. “I don’t know why are they dropped”
The burly German is fully aware of IHF, IOA, Adhoc committee politics, which is not surprising keeping ambitious Gerrard’s persona in mind.
Japan team scored five goals against Bangladesh. This Japanese team has six debutants. Gerrard is unfazed by the flurry of goals his team conceded. “We would have done the same had Oman or Sri Lanka are here”, he said. When we started attacking after good first half, they scored two goals, then things went wrong”. This is what Gerrard said about the whitewash.
I think I have some thing with India’s foreign coaches. At Kazan (Russia) last year, Richard Charlesworth sat next to me in the media room, as I was the lone Indian journalist there. The Qualifier thing is repeated here. Sitting next to me is Jose Brasa, the Spaniard who will be the chief coach of India from next assignment onwards. There are only two journalists from India, other one being from Indian Express.
The guy on the other side of my seating in the media room is Ajit Pal, a journalist covering for New Strait Times. When I introduced him to Jose Brasa, he wondered, “is there Ajit Pal in Malaysia also?” Ajit Pal was prompt in reply, “I was named after Indian legend Ajit Pal as my father was a hockey freak, he named so after Ajit Pal’s team won the World Cup here in Malaysia”. Ajit Pal’s father Harnik Singh played for Malaysia for many years. Ajit Pal covers badminton and other sports.
Diary to continue tomorrow as well