Former
Pakistan player Shahid Afridi who courts controversy again and again, reacted angrily to Gautam Gambhir’s suggestion
that India should not play against Pakistan in the upcoming World Cup in
England. As most angry reactors are,
Afridi knows little of history or Truth !
In Feb, with not
all of us following - Prajnesh Gunneswaran failed to pull off an upset against
Italy's Andreas Seppi and India were eliminated from the Davis Cup after losing
the knockout World Group Qualifiers 3-1. After choosing the grass of Calcutta
South Club, India had given themselves the best chance against hard court and
clay lovers Italy but India's weakness in singles bit them once again. India's
top singles player Prajnesh was up against Italy's most experienced player Seppi;
the Italian proved to be just too good
for the Indian. With Prajnesh's 1-6, 4-6
loss, India lost the tie and Ramkumar Ramanathan's final singles rubber was not
even played. India had received momentary hope in the tie from the doubles win
of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan but Prajnesh could not be up to the task. To all Tennis
lovers of this land – have you heard of Jasjit Singh ? ~ a former Professional Tennis player of India.
South
Africa's Lloyd Harris reached the second round of a Grand Slam for the first
time at Roland Garros on Monday, lending weight to his nickname of 'The King'. The
22-year-old from Cape Town defeated Czech veteran Lukas Rosol 6-1, 4-6, 2-6,
6-1, 6- - "I was only 19 when I made it into the South Africa Davis Cup
team which was a group full of older guys -- 27, 28, and into their 30s,"
Harris told AFP. Davis Cup !!
The Davis Cup is
the premier international team event in men's tennis, run by the International Tennis Federation
(ITF), contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out
format. It is described by the organisers as the "World Cup of
Tennis", and the winners are referred to as the World Champion team. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge
between Great Britain and the United States. The most successful countries over the history
of the tournament are the United States (winning 32 tournaments and finishing
as runners-up 29 times.) The present champions are Croatia, who beat France to
win their second title in 2018.
Jasjit
Singh born in Delhi, became the first Sikh to play for India Davis cup team,
selected for 1974 Davis Cup. His first appearance was a
loss to Japan's Toshiro Sakai in a dead rubber, as India had already secured
the tie. India then faced the Australian team in the Eastern Zone final and
Jasjit was chosen ahead of Anand Amritraj to play the first singles rubber. In front of a Calcutta crowd, Singh managed to
beat his Australian opponent Bob Giltinan in four sets, to give India a 1–0
lead. John Alexander won; India came
back strongly in the doubles; Singh lost
the reverse singles to Alexander. India won the tie 3–2 after Vijay Amritraj
defeated Giltinan in the deciding match.
India has had some
successes in Davis cup with noteworthy victories in the tournament between
1921-1929, defeating the likes of France, Romania, Holland, Belgium. Spain and
Greece – all of them strong teams with top-ranked players – among others. The
inspirational performances from Cotah Ramaswamy and Krishna Prasad brought
laurels to the country. India regularly won the Zonal finals in the 1960s and
played the Inter-Zonal finals during the 1960s.
India reached its first final in 1966 which is widely considered its
best ever result in the tournament. Powered by the legendary Ramanathan
Krishnan and Jaideep Mukherjea, India beat Brazil 3-2 in the Inter-Zonal Final
at Kolkata to qualify for the Challenge Round but lost 1-4 to Australia,
Krishnan and Mukherjea managed to beat the 1965 Wimbledon champions Newcombe
and Roche in the doubles.
The 1974 Davis Cup
was the 63rd edition of the most important tournament between national teams in
men's tennis. 57 teams would enter the competition, 33 in the Europe Zone, 12
in the Americas Zone, and 12 in the Eastern Zone. South Africa defeated Colombia in the Americas
Zone final, India defeated Australia in the Eastern Zone final, and Italy and
the Soviet Union won the Europe Zones. In the Inter-Zonal Zone, South Africa
defeated Italy and India defeated the Soviet Union.
The
final, was scheduled to be completed by
1st Dec 1974, but India forfeited the match – yes, under instructions from the
Govt., India did not want to play South Africa and the match was awarded to
South Africa by default. After
defeating Australia and Russia, India had a realistic chance of winning the
Cup, but he Congress Govt ruled by Mrs Indira Gandhi decided that they would
not play against SA, in protest of Apartheid practice prevalent in the
country. The
decision, which most believe came from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, ceded the Cup
to South Africa and came as a crushing disappointment for the players on both
teams. The boycott did spare the South
African officials that ran Ellis Park in Johannesburg, which was scheduled to
host the matches, from having to accommodate Indian fans.
.. ..
well, that is not all ~ in 2009 - International
Tennis Federation (ITF) declared India
the winner of Davis Cup tie in Chennai
after Tennis Australia (TA) said it would not send a team due to security
fears. By virtue of its decision not to
send a team to compete against India, Australia
forfeited the tie.
Afridi
may not know or follow Tennis – yet Afridi though not part of playing X1 was
part of that tour 2006 – 4th Test at Oval reaching
an end, after an extraordinary day of rumour, speculation, and high farce that
brought the game to the brink of one of the biggest crisis in recent memory.
The decision was finally made at 10pm London time, in a makeshift press
conference hall in the bowels of the Oval pavilion. It was the first such
forfeiture in 129 years of Test cricket. Four long hours after play was called
off for the day, and after protracted negotiations between the ICC, the ECB and
the PCB, it was left to David Collier, the ECB's chief executive, to read out a
statement that will doubtless raise more questions than answers. According to
Surrey officials, 12,000 tickets had been sold in advance - all of which will
now have to be refunded, along with 40% of day's takings - a combined loss of
about £400,000. The initial incident took place in the 56th over, when umpires
Darrel Hair and Billy Doctrove deemed
that the quarter seam on the ball had been raised and would therefore have to
be changed. But the situation only really kicked off after tea, as the
Pakistanis remained in their dressing-room in protest at the decision.
Pakistan became the
first team in 129 years to forfeit a Test, after taking umbrage at being
punished for ball-tampering on the fourth day of the Oval Test of 2006 by the
umpires, Australian Darrell Hair and West Indian Billy Doctrove. What began
simply as a five-run penalty soon escalated into a diplomatic standoff and an
issue of national pride. Pakistan refused to take to the field after tea, and
though they changed their minds later, the match was forfeited.
.. .. ..
this time, the forfeiture, if it happens, if India, refuses to play Pakistan,
could be lucky for Pak in earning points, as they have never beaten India in a
Cricket World Cup.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
28th May
2019.
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