From the publishers of THE HINDU
VOL.31 :: NO.52 :: Dec. 27, 2008
• Contents
YEAR-END SPECIAL / OTHER GREAT INDIAN PERFORMANCES
Standing tall
| The year 2008 also belonged to the shooters, Gagan Narang and Ronjan Sodhi, and golfer Jeev Milkha Singh. Karthik Krishnaswamy on the three champions who did India proud. |
Shooting star...Ronjan Sodhi
In a year in which India claimed as many Olympic medals as it did in its six previous attempts, it was inevitable that the exploits of Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh would leave other, equally impressive performances on the margins of popular consciousness. For instance, the most popular Abhinav Bindra community on the social networking site Orkut has 16,783 members (as of 3 p.m. on December 16), while the community celebrating Gagan Narang, the ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) World Cup champion in the 10m Air Rifle event, numbers 108.
As with the relative warming effect of the sun and other stars on Earth, it is the distance — in this case perceptual — and not magnitude that separates the lustre of Bindra’s Olympic gold from Narang’s World Cup gold in the public eye.
At the ISSF World Cup (rifle and pistol) Final in Bangkok in November, Narang shot a perfect 600 in qualification — think about it: 60 successive rifle shots that hit dead centre, a feat achieved only thrice in ISSF competition — and 103.5 in the final to total a world record-breaking 703.5. And while shooting is essentially a contest between the shooter and himself, it must be mentioned that the competition Narang faced was of the highest class, lacking only Bindra, who didn’t participate. Among the other finalists were the Beijing Olympics silver and bronze medallists Zhu Qinan — who won the gold at Athens in 2004 — and Henri Hakkinen.
Narang’s Bangkok feat is only the latest in what has been an extremely fruitful career so far, which has yielded, apart from the Bangkok gold, 10m Air Rifle golds at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games and at the first qualifying event (Guangzhou) of the 2006 World Cup calendar, and four golds — in 10m Air Rifle, 50m Rifle 3 Positions, 10m Air Rifle (Pairs) and 50m Rifle 3 Positions (Pairs), the last two partnering Abhinav Bindra — at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Another Indian shooter to enter the ISSF record books this year was Ronjan Sodhi (for whom, incidentally, no Orkut community exists). The double trap ace didn’t win a medal at the World Cup (shotgun) Final in Minsk, but the manner in which he got to that stage was breathtaking.
Gagan Narang
At the qualifying event in Belgrade in June, the 28-year-old shot 147 in qualification, and 47 in the final, totalling 194 and equalling the world record set by Italian Daniele Di Spigno in 1999. In comparison, to drive home the scale of Sodhi’s achievement, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, in winning his silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, scored 135 in qualification and 44 in the final round. Ahmed Almaktoum, who won the gold, shot 144 and 45.
In a section of his personal website titled ‘My golf tips’, Jeev Milkha Singh lists — to the dismay of the studious beginner expecting a scholarly biomechanics paper — just one: “Keep Watching That Ball!”
He elaborates on the theme, “It’s quite difficult to do to start with but when you get used to this little trick it works a treat.”
On the evidence of his quite stupendous showing in the Asian, European and Japanese Golf tours, it can be safely assumed that Jeev’s eyes never left the dimpled sphere in the year 2008, in triumph and adversity. In June, he won his third career European tour title, finishing a stroke ahead of Britain’s Simon Wakefield at the Bank Austria Golf Open. July saw him win his third Japan Golf Open title, at the Nagashima Shigeo Invitational Sega Sammy Cup, where he shot a 13-under 275 over four rounds to pip Japan’s Sushi Ishigaki by two strokes.
And in August, Jeev became the first Indian golfer to finish in the top 10 at a Major, coming joint ninth — the best finish by an Asian — with a 5-over 285 at the PGA Championships at Oakland Hills. For a while he had promised even loftier glory, when he ended round one on a 2-under-par 68, in joint lead with Sweden’s Robert Karlsson.
Jeev Milkha Singh
Three months later, Jeev sliced a stroke off Ernie Els and PGA Championship winner Padraig Harrington in a dramatic final round in Singapore, where Harrington missed a five-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff. In winning the Barclays Singapore Open, his sixth career Asian Tour title, Jeev’s prize money for the year crossed the $1 million mark, making him the first ever golfer on the Asian tour to achieve the milestone.
But his most heroic display came on the back of personal tragedy.
With his wife Kudrat recuperating in hospital after delivering a stillborn child, Jeev had decided to withdraw from the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup. Persuaded by his wife to play on, the distraught Jeev, who was given special permission by the organising committee to play the event despite not competing in the Pro-Am, carded a 12-under 268 to win the event, his second Japan Golf Tour title of the year, by two strokes over defending champion Brendan Jones of Australia.
The win put him in 36th place in the world rankings. He had already sealed his second Asian Tour Order of Merit after winning the Singapore Open.
Having just turned 37, after 15 years on the professional tour, a spot of grey flecks his chin. That, however, is no impediment to golfing achievement, and if he keeps his eye on the ball keenly enough, it shouldn’t be unreasonable to hope for a Major.
|
|
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Contents • Daily Sports • The Hindu • Business Line • Frontline • Publications • eBooks • Images
Copyright © 2008 Sportstar
Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Sportstar.
