Focus on education

K DATTA

Graham Reid Asignificant memory of the 2017 FIFA under-17 world cup in India was the German team bringing along a teacher to ensure that the young footballers from that country did not miss their school lessons while they were engaged in the tournament away from home. German law requires youngsters of that age to be at school.
India’s new chief hockey coach Graham Reid, who has the tough task of turning around the national team’s fortunes in the international arena, is also keen that his wards use the game to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. So while playing good-quality hockey is important, it is also necessary to focus on education, which is ignored by many players.
For a start, and to improve communication with the players, Reid wants his players to learn English, as many of them speak only in their mother tongue. Interestingly, Reid will be joined soon by wife Julia, an English teacher, and Reid is wondering whether she can help teach English to the boys.
While Reid has many good ideas to implement, he will need time and the backing of Hockey India authorities who have been criticised for changing coaches too frequently.

Shooters on target

Apurvi Chandela India’s shooters won the world cup most convincingly. But regretfully, not many of us know about it, because it wasn’t cricket and the news was buried somewhere in the sports pages instead of being on the front page of newspapers. The talented Indian shooters dominated the Munich ISSF World Cup, winning five of the 10 gold medals.
Our shooters bagged two more Olympic berths to take the tally to seven in the rifle and pistol categories.
Apurvi Chandela won her second World Cup gold in a year in the 10m air rifle event, while Manu Bhaker showed exceptional composure to bounce back strongly from a gun malfunction in the 25m pistol to clinch a 10m pistol Olympic quota. Seventeenyear-old Saurabh Chaudhary also won his second World Cup gold of the year. Later, two golds in the mixed team events underlined the Indian dominance.

Much ado over gloves

MS Dhoni's gloves sporting the army “Balidaan Badge” From cricket fans to film buffs, from politicians to man in the street, everyone was on the front foot to support the Dhoni KeepTheGlove movement. when the former Indian captain was asked by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take off the army insignia on his wicket-keeping gloves. Many even went to the extent of asking the cricket board (BCCI) to boycott the ongoing World Cup rather than get Mahendra Singh Dhoni to remove the Balidaan symbol from his gloves.
Dhoni, 37, is an honorary Lt. Col. In the Territorial Army, whose uniform he is proud to wear. At the Rashtrapati Bhavan ceremony at which he was decorated with the Padma Bhushan for his services to cricket he smartly marched in his Territorial Army uniform to receive the award.

In London, Rahul Johri of the BCCI was reportedly planning to take up the issue and persuade the ICC to let Dhoni keep the insignia on his gloves. But the ICC was not amused. Wiser counsels prevailed and Dhoni agreed to remove the offending army insignia from his wicket-keeping gloves.

The fuss over Dhoni’s wicket-keeping gloves and even India’s convincing victory in the much hyped match against Pakistan in the early days of the 10-team World Cup were forgotten when England’s captain Eoin Morgan struck 17 sixes in his stormy innings of 148 off only 78 balls in his 150- run victory over Afghanistan to create World Cup history.

In England's innings against Afghanistan, 25 sixes were hit in all- 17 by Morgan, 4 by Moeen Ali, 3 by Jonny Bairstow and 1 by Joe Root. This is a world record for most sixes in a team's innings in ODIs

Defending skills

Igor Stimac India fans finally got to see their new football coach Igor Stimac in action in the King’s Cup final in Thailand. Although the team lost to Curacao 1-3 in the semi-final, it got the better of Thailand for the second time this year to end third in the tournament. Stimac made as many as eight changes after India lost to Curacao and seemed happy with the result.
He even dropped Sunil Chhetri, whose goal in the semi-final brought him at par with German Gerd Muller, Ireland's Robbie Keane and Guatemala's Carlos Ruiz's tally of 68 international goals. The Indian captain overtook Lionel Messi’s tally in the AFC Asian Cup earlier this year.
Stimac was happy the secondstring team exhibited good defending skills after the A team conceded three goals inside 32 minutes.

Teen power

Amanda Anisimova Seventeen-year-old American Amanda Anisimova became the first player born in the 2000s to reach a major quarter-final after she knocked out defending champion Simona Halep in straight sets. Anisimova also became the youngest American woman to make a major semifinal since Venus Williams in the 1997 US Open and the youngest American woman in the semis at Roland Garros since Jennifer Capriati in 1990. Anisimova didn’t drop a set until the semi-final, which she lost to Ashleigh Barty of Australia. Barty prevented an all-teenager final after Czech Marketa Vondrousova, 19, became the first teenager to reach a Grand Slam final in 10 years..



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India’s new chief hockey coach Graham Reid, who has the tough task of turning around the national team’s fortunes in the international arena, is also keen that his wards use the game to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. So while playing good-quality hockey is important, it is also necessary to focus on education, which is ignored by many players. For a start, and to improve communication with the players, Reid wants his players to learn English, as many of them speak only in their mother tongue. Interestingly, Reid will be joined soon by wife Julia, an English teacher, and Reid is wondering whether she can help teach English to the boys. While Reid has many good ideas to implement, he will need time and the backing of Hockey India authorities who have been criticised for changing coaches too frequently. Shooters on target Apurvi Chandela India’s shooters won the world cup most convincingly. But regretfully, not many of us know about it, because it wasn’t cricket and the news was buried somewhere in the sports pages instead of being on the front page of newspapers. The talented Indian shooters dominated the Munich ISSF World Cup, winning five of the 10 gold medals. Our shooters bagged two more Olympic berths to take the tally to seven in the rifle and pistol categories. Apurvi Chandela won her second World Cup gold in a year in the 10m air rifle event, while Manu Bhaker showed exceptional composure to bounce back strongly from a gun malfunction in the 25m pistol to clinch a 10m pistol Olympic quota. Seventeenyear-old Saurabh Chaudhary also won his second World Cup gold of the year. Later, two golds in the mixed team events underlined the Indian dominance. Much ado over gloves MS Dhoni's gloves sporting the army “Balidaan Badge” From cricket fans to film buffs, from politicians to man in the street, everyone was on the front foot to support the Dhoni KeepTheGlove movement. when the former Indian captain was asked by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take off the army insignia on his wicket-keeping gloves. Many even went to the extent of asking the cricket board (BCCI) to boycott the ongoing World Cup rather than get Mahendra Singh Dhoni to remove the Balidaan symbol from his gloves. Dhoni, 37, is an honorary Lt. Col. In the Territorial Army, whose uniform he is proud to wear. At the Rashtrapati Bhavan ceremony at which he was decorated with the Padma Bhushan for his services to cricket he smartly marched in his Territorial Army uniform to receive the award. In London, Rahul Johri of the BCCI was reportedly planning to take up the issue and persuade the ICC to let Dhoni keep the insignia on his gloves. But the ICC was not amused. Wiser counsels prevailed and Dhoni agreed to remove the offending army insignia from his wicket-keeping gloves. The fuss over Dhoni’s wicket-keeping gloves and even India’s convincing victory in the much hyped match against Pakistan in the early days of the 10-team World Cup were forgotten when England’s captain Eoin Morgan struck 17 sixes in his stormy innings of 148 off only 78 balls in his 150- run victory over Afghanistan to create World Cup history. In England's innings against Afghanistan, 25 sixes were hit in all- 17 by Morgan, 4 by Moeen Ali, 3 by Jonny Bairstow and 1 by Joe Root. This is a world record for most sixes in a team's innings in ODIs Defending skills Igor Stimac India fans finally got to see their new football coach Igor Stimac in action in the King’s Cup final in Thailand. Although the team lost to Curacao 1-3 in the semi-final, it got the better of Thailand for the second time this year to end third in the tournament. Stimac made as many as eight changes after India lost to Curacao and seemed happy with the result. He even dropped Sunil Chhetri, whose goal in the semi-final brought him at par with German Gerd Muller, Ireland's Robbie Keane and Guatemala's Carlos Ruiz's tally of 68 international goals. The Indian captain overtook Lionel Messi’s tally in the AFC Asian Cup earlier this year. Stimac was happy the secondstring team exhibited good defending skills after the A team conceded three goals inside 32 minutes. Teen power Amanda Anisimova Seventeen-year-old American Amanda Anisimova became the first player born in the 2000s to reach a major quarter-final after she knocked out defending champion Simona Halep in straight sets. Anisimova also became the youngest American woman to make a major semifinal since Venus Williams in the 1997 US Open and the youngest American woman in the semis at Roland Garros since Jennifer Capriati in 1990. Anisimova didn’t drop a set until the semi-final, which she lost to Ashleigh Barty of Australia. Barty prevented an all-teenager final after Czech Marketa Vondrousova, 19, became the first teenager to reach a Grand Slam final in 10 years..