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Bose was introduced to Milkha by India's 1975 hockey World Cup-winning captain Ajit Pal Singh.
MUMBAI: Indian athletics may not be on the global sporting map just yet, but there are rare moments in the country's track and field history nevertheless that are forever etched in time. None better than Milkha Singh falling painfully short of a medal at the 400m final of the 1960 Rome Olympics by a gut-wrenching fraction of a second.
Milkha or 'Flying Sikh' as he later got christened, is known to have given away all his medals to government museums. However, there's one possession that he never wanted to part with were those Adidas shoes with which he missed the 400m Olympic bronze at Rome, days after setting a 45.8-second world record in the preliminaries of the same event in France.
"I wouldn't part with it even if someone gave me Rs. 10,000 crore," Milkha told Bollywood actor Rahul Bose, who called the legend at his residence in Chandigarh in connection with the second edition of Equation, the actor's sports memorabilia auction to be held on February 11 in Mumbai.
Bose was introduced to Milkha by India's 1975 hockey World Cup-winning captain Ajit Pal Singh. "When I first spoke to Milkha sir over the phone, he said he was a bit unwell, so I let him recover before going across to Chandigarh. Later, when we met, he showed no signs of any illness. He was fine and we chatted enthusiastically. He spoke of how his parents were killed post-partition, leaving him in India to fend for himself.
He told me how he walked a good 20km to and from school each day, bare-footed across scorching earth and having to cross two streams each way. He would cool his feet by rubbing them over the comparatively cooler grass patches. He joined the army and the rest, as they say, is history," Bose told MiD DAY.
As it turned out, the rest of their interaction was historic for Bose too. "I asked Milkha sir if he could give me a picture of him in that Rome race to put up at the auction, but he didn't have one. Then he suddenly got up, walked to his room and returned with a pair of shoes.
I was astonished to learn that it was the very same pair he ran the Rome race with. 'They are priceless to me. I wouldn't part with them even for Rs. 10,000 crore,' he said. And even as I sat there still in awe of those lace-less, old boots in my hand, Milkha sir said, 'tumne mera dil jeet liya hai aaj. Tum yeh jootey le loh (you have won my heart over. Take these shoes)'."
Moved by the effort
Bose believed the ace middle-distance runner was moved by the sheer nature of his charity and the purpose of the auction. "Proceeds from last year's inaugural auction were used to set up operations in Kashmir where we, as the first non-profit organisation, worked towards adopting and creating educational opportunities for 12 children from the land," said Bose, who also has a football autographed by Argentina ace Lionel Messi and an autographed vest from Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel besides other memorabilia in his collection this time round. Milkha's contribution though, is most special!
New Zealand surprised at the Argentina FIH Champions Trophy by drawing 2-2 with host Argentina.By Michael BurgessThe 2012 Champions Trophy will have a different format to previous editions, one that has few fans among the Black Sticks. It resembles something that the Monty Python team might have come up with if asked to design a sporting tournament.
Take eight teams. Play 12 group matches. Then put the same eight teams into quarter-finals.
Only time will tell but Black Sticks coach Mark Hager certainly has reservations about the new format for the tournament, which starts today in Rosario.
His main beef is that the three group games could essentially count for nothing under the structure introduced by the FIH.
"I'm not a big fan," admits Hager, "I thought the previous system worked well, as we saw last year in both the men's and women's [Champions Trophies]. I don't think this format rewards consistency; a lot comes down to one performance on the day."
The eight competing teams are divided into two groups of four. Each country plays the other once but nobody is knocked out come the end of group play - it is almost the ultimate in political correctness.
They move straight into a quarter-final phase with the Pool A winners playing the fourth side in Pool B, second (A) playing third (B), third (A) plays second (B) and fourth (A) plays first (B).
There have been weird scenarios before - the ICC came up with a doozy at the last two cricket World Cups, taking weeks to eliminate just a few teams. The A-League and the NHL have play-off systems which allow more than half of the teams in the league to progress - but having every team progress to the knockout rounds takes the biscuit.
"It's a bit weird," says captain Kayla Sharland, "because you don't need to be consistent. It's a pretty crazy format but we have seen it before; They have used it at the Champions Challenge and sometimes there a team has lost all three pool games but then gone on to win the tournament. I don't think it is ideal."
Obviously there is a theoretical advantage in topping the pool but only in that you get to play a weaker team; there is no second life for the top qualifier or any other advantage.
Still, given their lead-in form, maybe the format is a blessing in disguise for the New Zealand side. Under the previous system, as seen at the Champions Trophy in Amsterdam last year, teams would have to finish in the top two to progress, otherwise they would be cast aside into the unwanted ground of the fifth-eighth play-offs. Now, the Black Sticks will be in a quarter-final regardless of their group form, though the team and coach will be counting on some confidence-boosting results.
Hager says one of the priorities is to try and avoid the formidable Dutch side, currently ranked No1 in the world and likely to top Pool A.
"We back ourselves against any other team in the world and always will but obviously Holland would be a tough side to meet in the quarter-finals."
As well as Holland, Pool A features Great Britain (ranked fourth in the world), China (fifth) and Japan (ninth).
The Blacks Sticks' Pool B is slightly stronger, with Argentina (second), Germany (third), New Zealand (sixth) and South Korea (eighth) and has three of the top four (New Zealand, Argentina and Korea) from the 2011 Champions Trophy. The New Zealand Herald
OVERALL champions SSTMI Thunderbolts stamped their class when they hammered Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MBPJ) 6-1 in Division One of the Milo-Junior Hockey League yesterday.
Thunderbolts top the standings after notching their fourth conservative win, and are followed closely by UniKL who have played one less match than the leaders.
For the record, UniKL could only edge MBPJ 2-1.
Yesterday, the Thunderbolts goals were scored by Sufi Ismat (third, 41st), Shahril Saabah (15th), Shafiq Nordin (35th), Amir Zulkarnain (37th), Shahrushadan Basri (57th).
MBPJ got their consolation off G. Tamil Chelvam in the 62nd minute.
In another Division One match, MBI Anderson beat Bukit Jalil Sports School Juniors 4-2.
The Ipoh side took the lead in the 12th minute through Hussaini Husin who converted a penalty corner. And in the 19th minute Akmal Tajuddin found the mark to double the adbvantage for MBI-Anderson.
However BJSS Juniors reduced the deficit in the 21st minute when Ramdan Arifin scored off a penalty corner. And were on level terms in the 56th minute when K. Divanisharan found the mark.
But a late surge by MBI-Anderson gave them three points with goals from Ashran Hamsani (58th) and Akmal Tajuddin (64th) ensured a final score of 4-2 in favour of the Perak side.
In Division Two, Group A, Sapura also indicated that they are primed to play in the knock-out quarter-finals with the big boys when they beat Kelantan HA 6-0.
RESULTS: Division One -- BJSS Juniors 2 MBI Anderson 4, SSTMI Thunderbolts 6 MB Petaling Jaya 1.
Division Two: Group A: Sapura 6 Kelantan HA-MSSK 0, MSSPP-USM Jr 0 Politeknik KPT 9.
Group B: Malacca HS 2 Padang Midin 1, MB Batu Pahat 1 Yayasan Pahang 2.
P W D L F A Pts
THUNDERBOLTS 4 4 0 0 25 3 12
UNIKL 3 3 0 0 13 1 9
Anderson 3 2 1 0 15 7 7
BJSS 3 2 0 1 11 8 6
USM Jnrs 2 1 1 0 7 6 4
MBPJ 4 1 0 3 12 12 3
SSTMI 3 1 0 2 6 16 3
TBSS 4 0 0 4 5 23 0
BJSS Jnrs 4 0 0 4 3 24 0
DIVISION TWO
GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
SAPURA 4 4 0 0 28 1 12
Poli KPT 5 4 0 1 16 4 12
KHA Jnrs 3 1 2 0 3 2 5
NUR INSAFI 3 1 1 1 4 4 4
ANDSON Jnrs 4 1 0 3 8 10 3
MSS Kel 2 1 0 1 3 8 3
MSSPP Jnrs 4 1 0 3 5 18 3
KHA-MSNK 3 0 1 2 3 6 1
PHNS 2 0 0 2 0 17 0
GROUP B
P W D L F A Pts
KLSS 4 2 0 2 11 6 6
PAHANG 3 2 0 1 6 7 6
OLAK 3 2 0 1 6 4 6
MPBP 4 2 0 2 5 5 6
MHS 3 2 0 1 4 4 6
SMKPM 3 1 0 2 6 6 3
DATUK TAHA 2 1 0 1 3 4 3
TUNAS PAHANG 2 0 0 2 2 7 0
IRELAND’S men took on Great Britain today in the second of two training matches at Bisham Abbey coming out with a 2-2 draw.
Great Britain opened the scoring in the second minute when Barry Middleton tapped in at the back post from a by-line ball but Ireland managed to level the sides just 7 minutes later with a Timothy Cockram drag flick. The game was evenly contested throughout the remainder of the first half and was fairly reflected in the 1-1 score at half time.
In the 41st minute Great Britain took the lead again with a Simon Mantell goal from a penalty corner drag flick. Ireland piled on the pressure and were awarded a number of short corners but failed to take their opportunities and it was not until after the final hooter that they scored their equalising goal once again from a Timothy Cockram drag flick. Final score Ireland 2 -2 Great Britain.
Starting XI: David Fitzgerald (GK); John Jackson; Paul Gleghorne; Conor Harte; Stuart Loughrey; Andy McConnell; David Ames; Geoff McCabe; Michael Watt; Mitch Darling; Timmy Cockram
Reserves (all used): Johnny Bell; Chris Cargo; Ian Sloan; Peter Caruth; Gareth Watkins; Shane O’Donoghue. Irish Hockey Association media release
THE national senior hockey team lost narrowly 3-1 to Australia in the first friendly at the Perth Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Malaysia are Down Under to play a four-series friendlies against the Australian side, and two more friendlies against the Netherlands to prepare for the Dublin Olympic Qualifier on March 10-18.
Yesterday, Australia took the lead but Malaysia equalised off Izwan Firdaus and the score stood until the breather.
However, Australia scored two more goals in the second half to claim full points. The second friendly will be played today.
Malaysia had three penalty corners, while the Australians seven.
In the Olympic Qualifier, Malaysia will be playing to claim the solitary Olympics ticket with South Korea, Ireland, Russia, Chile and Ukraine.
The itinerary Down Under:
29 Jan training / Game 1 Australia (lose 1-3)
30 Jan training / Game 2 Australia
1 Feb training / Game 3 Australia
2 Feb training / Game 4 Australia
4 Feb training / Game 1 Netherlands
5 Feb training / Game 2 Netherlands
Bose was introduced to Milkha by India's 1975 hockey World Cup-winning captain Ajit Pal Singh.
