Listings (TOP)
Back to DINGKO SPECIAL
The Hindu : December 22, 1998 |
The Hindustan Times : Dec 22, 1998 |
The Indian Express : Dec 21,1998 |
The Indian Express : Dec 19, 1998 |
The Indian Express : Dec 17, 1998 |
A pleasant surprise (Bangkok Asian Games)
IF SURPRISE IS the very soul of sport, then there were
a few
wonderfully soul-lifting moments to be savoured for the
Indian
sports fans during the Asian Games that concluded in Bangkok
on
Sunday. At the end of a fortnight, that seemed
to hold very
little promise at the start, India finished with its best medals
tally - seven gold medals, 11 silver and 17 bronze - since
the
1986 edition in Seoul. While this may not compare favourably with
China's impressive collection of 274 medals (129- 77-68), what is
significant is that the doomsday prophets have been proved wrong
and our athletes have done much better than they were expected to
do. Two weeks ago, very few might have imagined that India would
finish ninth in the medals tally and even
fewer would have
believed that the much- maligned hockey team -
an object of
derision in the recent past - would regain the gold
after 32
years.
In a nation where a lethal combination of administrative apathy,
lack of vision and planning and, not the least, a proclivity for
making political compromises has emasculated the very structure
of sport, the success of the hockey
team, the spectacular
``double'' by Jyotirmoyee Sikdar in the 1,500m and 800m races and
the gloom-to-glory saga of Dingko Singh in the boxing ring should
represent a triumph of the spirit, more than anything else. Then
again, if the gold medals won in billiards and
kabaddi only
matched expectations, they would hardly lose their glitter
for
that reason alone.
At a time when the country's favourite sport, something that
is
followed by millions with a quasi-religious fervour - cricket
-
is going through convulsions following the revelation that
the
Australian superstars, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, took
money
from an Indian running an illegal bookmaking
business, the
performances of ``Class B'' Indian sportspersons
who have
laboured courageously in the huge shadow of cricket
in this
country are certainly a cause for celebration.
Dingko Singh will
never achieve the status of a Sachin Tendulkar or a Leander Paes,
but his story is perhaps the most fascinating one to emerge from
the Asian Games. Boxing's special allure has as much to do
with
the fact that it is perhaps the most basic of all sport as
with
the background from which its champions emerge. From the turn-of-
the-century days of Jack Johnson, when it was a
bare-knuckle
sport in the United States, boxing's most engaging personalities
have come from urban ghettos and from the pits of rural poverty.
Dingko, who until a few years ago had to make do with a
meagre
offering of "rice and dall'' in a Manipur orphanage,
is no
exception. The young Manipuri boxer's only assets were his fists
and his hunger for success. And those fists turned fists of fury
not long after he was almost denied the chance to prove himself
with the Government refusing to clear his name for the Games
-
the 20-year old made the trip only after the
Indian Amateur
Boxing Federation officials pleaded his case with the
Indian
Olympic Association officials.
Dingko's is a typical case, something that throws
light, yet
again, on the murky areas of sport in this country.
In this
sense, Dingko is a warning as much as he is an example. Far from
being the triumph of a system, his success - as opposed to
that
of the hockey team which has been well served by
a dedicated
administration in the recent times - has come despite the system.
The point is, in every street in every city, town and village in
this country, there is a Nobody who dreams of becoming a Somebody
on the sporting stage, as did Dingko Singh and Jyotirmoyee Sikdar
not long ago. But a good majority of them will
never get to
realise their dreams in the absence of a scientific system
that
can identify them and nurture them to the top. But even
within
the present system, a lot more can be achieved with inspired and
visionary sports management. From experts down to the lay
fan,
almost everyone who has anything to do with sport has an opinion
on why a huge nation such as ours is not
among the leading
performers in sport. You can point to a hundred plausible things
but the one big reason that has often escaped the attention
of
many is this: poor sports administration. Seldom, if ever, do we
trace the cause of Indian sport's ill-health to the way many
of
our sports bodies are run. The silver lining provided by Dingko
Singh, Sikdar, the cueists Ashok Shandilya, Geet Sethi and
the
hockey and kabaddi teams should, if anything, throw light on this
area of darkness.
Little to gloat over
Say this for the sports officialdom in India: its pervasive presence
at international meets is in inverse proportion to its ability to spot
and nurture talent.
But for the sporting excellence of individual sportsmen and women
Jyotirmoy Sikdar and, bantamweight boxer, Dingko, in particular who
gave this country a sporting chance of winning a golden heptad in
the
medals tally, the Bangkok Asiad would, perhaps, have been remembered
more for the ineptitude of ssubcontinental sports authorities than for
anything
else. It could only have happened here in India that the country
best boxer, and best hope for its first boxing
gold in 16 years, should be mysteriously dropped from the team
only to be taken back again at the last minute (and that, too, on the
insistence of an outraged foreign coach who staked his job by pointing
out this incredible indiscretion). As grudging official
acknowledgement that will now come Dingko
way, politicians and bureaucrats should ponder how this 20-year-old
pugilist could have struck a dream gold with no godfather behind
him. And it could only have happened to an Indian athlete that she
should inarguably be the best sprinter blooded in this part of the
world, who scorched major racing tracks around the globe, survived two
retirements, and a host of injuries, and yet be humiliated by being
dropped unceremoniously from the team, without so much as a
by-your-leave. Rather than gloat over the hockey gold and
the modest tally of medals, this country should now seriously think
about the way sports is administered. The world over, athletes
are considered ambassadors of their respective countries, but in India
they are usually conferred the status of third class citizens. Till
such time the whistle is blown on myopic decision-makers who often
know precious little about the sport they preside over, the Indian
sports scene will continue to suffer in silence. A silence which is
broken now and then by the empty promises and cheers of officials who
say a lot more than they actually do and claim whatever credit the
sportsmen earn for themselves in spite of these busybodies.
COMP: Indian_Express
ISSU: December 21, 1998
Lord of the ring
Dingko Singh who pummelled the World No 2, Uzbekistan's Timur
Tulyakov, into submission at the Bangkok Asiad to win a boxing
gold for India, has had to defeat not just
his opponents in the ring. He has had to overcome an orphaned
childhood and deprived family circumstances; the indifference of the
country's sporting establishment and the ``invisibility'' of being a
Manipuri villager.
The Northeast figures on the national radar screen only when a Nellie
occurs, or petroleum storage tanks in Assam go up in flames. Popular
attitudes are, alas, both fickle and cynical but still it's good to
know that now there's Dingko, too, to remind
Indians of a region confined to the margins in every sense of the
term. But boxing, as a sport, has always had a
way of nurturing the children of the forgotten. The Greatest didn't
have much to commend him apart from his fists of fury, remember?
Dingko is no Ali, perhaps, but he has displayed an
ability to hang in there, much like the man who could dance like a
butterfly and sting like a bee.
Not surprisingly, both the Indian Olympic Association and the Indian
Amateur Boxing Federation are now scrambling to
claim Dingko's achievement as their own after
all, he has become the first Indian boxer to land an Asiad gold medal
in 16 years. But they have quietly forgotten or, more likely, chosen
to forget, that the 20-year-old had very nearly missed that flight to
Bangkok. Someone, somewhere in the vast labyrinth of Indian sport had
decided that he was out of form, was ill-behaved to boot, and had got
his name scored out from the list of those who made it to the Indian
squad. The gold he won should rightly symbolise not just the triumph
of a young braveheart but the defeat of a cynical sports
administration.
Thank heavens then, for Dingko's ability to come
right back even after Fate and Babudom have landed their punches. This
lad was not brought up on a high-protein, carefully calibrated diet
that athletes abroad are fed. It was not milk and meat for him but
some ``rice, dal and a little curry'', as a friend who shared a
name Dingko's days of privation in an Imphal orphanage
recalls. Dingko's story then is the story of
Indian sport. Sporting performances reflect more than just athletic
prowess, it mirrors the standards of living that the participating
countries have achieved. It's not just a coincidence that China, South
Korea and Japan headed the medals tally at Bangkok with more than 150
medals each.
Athletes from countries such as India must necessarily work that much
harder to achieve excellence, their spirit must make up for what their
bodies lack, their will must overcome the odds the abysmal lack of
facilities place on them. This is why Dingko
could well become an inspirational figure for Indian sport, and indeed
for those Unknown Indians who have the sporting talent to take on the
world but can never step out of the margins. As for a
name Dingko himself, he has already set his sights on the
future. ``I have fulfilled one half of my dream,'' he told the Indian
media in Bangkok. ``The other half can now be fulfilled in Sydney.''
So here's to his Sports Odyssey 2000.
COMP: Indian_Express
ISSU: December 19, 1998
He lived in an orphanage, but boxing kept Dingko going
IMPHAL, Dec 18: ``All of us, Dingko included,
had scanty meals -- mostly rice, dal and a little curry. But
boxing, judo and kung fu kept us alive,
emotionally,,'' reminisces K.H. Surjit, who was India's golden boxer's
fellow inmate at the Children's Home orphanage here where
Dingko stayed for five years from 1987.
But Surjit isn't complaining. Far from it. On the contrary, he has
been strutting around like a proud peacock ever since he watched his
one-time fellowboarder at the orphanage lift the gold at Bangkok
yesterday afternoon.
Material conditions aren't much better at
Dingko's family home at Sekta village, about 20 km
from here on the Imphal-Ukhrul road. His elder brother and youngest
sister live there, eking out a hard existence as farm labourers. When
Dingko's father died, his mother felt rudderless
in the cruel sea of poverty with eight children -- four sons and four
daughters. Then the mother went to live elsewhere and her elder sons
died prematurely, victims of malnutrition and disease.
But Raniton Chanu, Dingko's youngest sister,
wasn't complaining either. On the contrary, she has overnight become
the Rani (queen) of the village, thanks to her brother's Bangkok
blaze. Tonight, she was the queen of hearts for the whole village as
men and women, young and old, gathered at the village playground by
the hillside to sing, drink and dance nightlong to celebrate the
native's feet. ``We were so angry when they dropped him from the
boxing squard,'' says a beaming Rani, ``we were so
angry that we thought we will kill his coach if he is not
included. But all that's forgotten and forgiven now.'' ``Very true,''
adds Ibobi, a youngman from the village, already quite inebriated,
Dingko is great, may be greater than Mike
Tyson.''
Dingko's coach for seven years at the Sports
Authority of India's Special Games Area (SAG) complex here, Ibomcha
too has forgotten and forgiven the wrong that nearly scuttled his
inclusion in the Bangkok Asian Games Indian squad this time. ``It's a
great moment that I knew was coming when Dingko
knocked out the Thai boxer in the run-up to the final,'' he says. When
the moment came, hundreds of young boys raided his home and carried
him on their shoulders around the main streets of this town yesterday
evening.
Like at Sekta, athletes at the SAG complex arranged a camp fire
tonight in Dingko's honour. Boys and girls sang
and danced around the fire that Imbocha lit. Candles burned all
around, giving the celebration almost a ritualistic air.
Candles burned all over the town at nightfall because Dingko</b>'s
home State is plunged into darkness at sundown ever since the Power
Department employees began an indefinite strike since last Wednesday,
demanding implementation of the Pay Commission proposals.
But the absence of power has failed to dampen jubilant spirits. Even
the Government joined in the celebration. After
Dingko won the gold yesterday, coach Ibomcha
appealed to the chief minister to declare it a public holiday. It
didn't really matter because all work stopped and everyone
began celebrating. ``Yu'', the local brew, flowed amidst much band
music. The policeman, who otherwise swoops on smelling youngsters
because both the government and the insurgent groups enforce
prohibition strictly, looked the other way. Chief minister Nipamacha
Singh promptly announced a state award of Rs 100,000 for
Dingko. The public holiday and the bigger
celebrations would come the day the native hero returns home, he told
coach Ibomcha.
But Sekta could not wait that long. So the village rejoiced with
music, drink and dance. And there the militants, for a change, looked
the other way. For the village and its surrounding hills are also
known to be hotbeds for Manipur's myriad militant outfits -- the
People's Liberation Army, the United National Liberation Front, the
Kangleipak Communist Party and so on. In fact, before
Dingko, Sekta's hero was another native, the
``commander-in-chief'' of the KCP, Y. Ibohanbi Singh. But while the
boxing hero won, the Communist hero failed and
finally fell in 1996 to the bullets of the security forces.
They dropped him from team, now Dingko knocks officials, Govt out
V Krishnaswamy
BANGKOK, Dec 16: The Indian Olympic Association says it
was not responsible for his omission in the first place. The foreign
coach staked his job by writing a strong letter which alleged wrong
'omissions' from the team at the last minute. And the Indian Amateur
Boxing Federation officials claim they have all along been pleading
his case. So, if everybody wanted Dingko Singh -- India's best boxer
for two years in a row at the Nationals -- in the team, who wanted him
out?
Why was he dropped and his clearance came only when the coaches and
the media pounced on it? It could become the biggest whodunit in
Indian sport. More so, if on Thursday, the 20-year-old Dingko wins
India's first boxing gold medal in 16 years. Even if Dingko loses the
final to World No. 2 Timur Tulyakov of Uzbekistan, the silver medal
will still be the biggest slap on the face of Indian sports
officialdom.
Not cleared by the government on the plea that he was `out of form'
and `had no medal chance', his attitude was questioned. He waslabelled
as `Ill-behaved'. In Bangkok, the very mention of his name is enough
to make Indian officials run for cover.
The Dingko Story has already attracted a lot of media attention
here. And many of the experts here reckon Dingko has a fair chance
against Tulyakov. In Bangkok, where there is a lot of illegal betting
on boxing in the markets and the venue, Dingko is being quoted as
60:40 favourite against Tulyakov, the Goodwill Games champion.
``If a boxer can beat a favourite from the host country in a
semi-final, you can be assured that he has an excellent
chance. Amateur boxing is full of incidents where foreign favourites
have been adjudged losers in close fights against local fighters. So
he has to be good,'' said one Thai official, who was present when
Dingko beat Sontaya Wongrpates of Thailand 18-1 on points.
Dingko's quick-footedness and his style of coming back after landing
a few punches worthy of getting points from the computer make him one
of the few Indian boxers who has adjusted himselfto the vagaries of
computer judgement, which lays emphasis on specific kinds of body and
head punches.
So, who thought he was a bad bet? It could not have been the coaches
-- B I Fernandes of Cuba or G S Sandhu -- for both are believed to
think very highly of Dingko. Fernandes was among the foreign coaches
who wrote to Sports Minister Uma Bharati, complaining that her
department was `cutting and chopping' teams at the last minute and
dropping medal prospects. Suresh Kalmadi, the president of the IOA,
maintains he and his organisation are not responsible for his
omission. ``We at the IOA have to by and large go by what the
respective federation tell us. We send the names and then Sports
Authority of India and the Government clears them. In Dingko's case
his name was sent for the team but the Government struck it off
thinking he was not a medal prospect,'' says Kalmadi.
Dingko has been specifically asked to keep quiet. And the Manipuri
youngster sticks to the line: ``I don't know why I was dropped and
howI was included again.'' He says nothing about the reports of his
being depressed and his drinking bouts. Maybe he will after the Games,
but for now he wants to concentrate on the biggest fight of his
career.
How did he get back into the team? ``Again, I don't know,'' says
Kalmadi. But other officials concede that the coaches' letter,
reported by The Indian Express did play a role. Hours before the
boxing team's departure, the IOA received the message that Dingko had
been cleared and the boxer, who was already in Delhi, left with the
team. But IOA has no answers to why they did not announce his
clearance, as it did about many others.
``Just as it always happens, in the days leading to the Asian Games,
a few names kept trickling in almost every day with clearances from
the Government. It all boils down to who had how much clout with the
ministry and get clearances,'' says an official accompanying the
Indian contingent.