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Bombay Rain Holds The Field Sudanese Footballers Trounce Bombay By Our Bombay Correspondent At the time of writing, Bombay is in the grip of sports' worst enemy--rain. For the last one week in has been drizzling almost interminably, interspersed with squalls, gales and sudden down-pours. The playing fields are sodden and water-logged and the chief source of sporting activity. League football, is reaching its climax in ding-dong progression. A welcome purple patch in the grey and gloomy scene was provided by the visit of the Sudanese football players who trounced a selected Bombay side in an exhibition match at the Cooperage. As the teams marched into the field, the tall dark hefty footballers from Sudan presented a contrast to the short-statured and not too athletic looking Indians. This physical difference soon came to be reflected in the style and strategy of the contestants. The visitors treated the spectators to an exhlairating display of passing tactics and smooth, well oiled co-ordination in all their moves. They dwarfed the local side in more than one manner. Not that they were giants of the game, far from it, in fact. Their poor marksmanship was obvious enough and one could easily spot the chinks in their offensive and defensive armour. Their defeat at Calcutta merely served to confirm the view that the opposition they met at Bombay was not up to any standard. Before the commencement of the play and after the exchange of courtesies associated with an international encounter the players and spectators stood in silence for a minute in memory of Dadoo, a former football star who passed away a day before the match. The game got off to a lively start with Neville de Souza, Bombay side's skipper, drawing first blood with a crashing header off Janki in the fourteenth minute of play. But the goal proved a flash in the pan, for the visitors now proceeded to take charge and completely dominated the home side for the rest of the match. Their passing the ball was a delight to watch and represented an evident mastery in this department of the game. Faisel Syed, the Sudan goal-keeper, thrilled the spectators with spectacular saves while Narayan his opposite number, an Indian international, turned out a featureless performance, far below his usual form. If the visitors had cared to go all out, the score board would undoubtedly have presented a different story ; Sudan's four to Bombay's two bore little relation to the relative prowess of the teams. Apart from Neville de Souza's doughty display, the Bombayites owed a great deal the Raghvan who played at the third back. He sensed the menace of the visitors' short-passing tactics early in the game and foiled many a dangerons-looking move with his uncanny anticipation. From among the visitors, Sudiek shone for his dashing play ; two of the Sudan goals coming off his sizzling drives. After the match the visitors were presented with scarves as souvenirs of an interesting, ever exciting encounter. Thrill-Filled Aga Khan Final The hockey season is over. For the first time in the sixty-two-year old history of the Aga Khan Cup Hockey Tournament, the coveted trophy went south--the winners-- Madras Engineer Group, Bangalore. The match has had all the ingredients of a rousing cup final in abundance and the crowded stands were treated to a thrill-a-minute contest. This was in welcome contrast to the drab drawn games in the quarter finals and semi-finals of the competition. Only one goal was scored, but it would long remain embedded in memory as one of the most spectacular goals seen in recent years. Yet it was netted more by accident than by design! In the fifteenth minute of the game, Loganathan made a lightning thrust down the Western Railway's, circle and foiled Terrence Fernnades and Gangaram in centring the ball. Peter, who had raced in the meanwhile for the centre, reverse-hit the knee-high ball and sent it to the board. It all happened in a flash and Ghulam Mohamed, the Railway's custodian, failed to cover the difficult angle as the ball grazed his pads. After this the Railways went all out to save the match, but the visitors retaliated with all their fangs and fury. Right to the last moment it was anybody's game, but Dame Fortune was kind to the M.E. Group and victory crowned their gallant efforts. The secret of success lay in their team work which at times gave the impression of a clock-like co-ordination. Each one of their forward moves was inspired by understanding and well-though out calculation. But when all is said, the credit for the triumph must go mainly to their defenders and the custodian, Mohan. Both Gave a brilliant account in extricating their side from many a menacing situation. It was a great game, fully in keeping with the glorious traditions of Aga Khan Hockey Tournament. 8 National Sports Mr. Naval Tata Puts His Foot Down! Indian Hockey Team's visit to Moscow The manner in which the Indian hockey team for the Moscow Youth Festival has been selected and amnounced has caused considerable astonishment and acrebity in sports circles here. It now transpires that neither the selectors nor the members of the Indian Hockey Federation were consulted. It is not known how the preliminary expenses of the tour are to be met and who is to foot the bill. Mr. Naval Tata has made it plain that not a rupee will be allowed to be spent from the funds of the Hockey Federation. The affair has left an acrid taste in the mouth and is symptomatic of the squabbles and bickerings that are going on amongst the officials who control the management of the game in India and is a sample of the kind of thing we may expect f the present set-up continues and is allowed to run roughshod over 'trifles' like procedure, rules and democratic conduct. A suggestion to cancel the trip at this late stage has been mooted although it is realised that the issue involved more than a mere sporting trip abroad. The Fat is now in the fire. The issues have been joined. Two swords cannot obviously rest in one scabbard. It may be remembered that the Maharashtra Cricket Association has the backing of the Board of Control of Cricket in India. Unless a compromise is arrived at between the two--and none is within sight--this affair, no bigger than a man's hand presently, may develop before long into a huge dark cloud that may threaten the entire structure of cricket administration in the country. By lending his powerful voice to the rebel association Major Salvi has precipitated and explosive situation, but may well have rendered a signal service to the cause of clean and healthy cricket in these parts. [[image]] .... not a single rupee will be allowed to be spent from the funds of the Federation. Before "National Sports" was released from the Press we were informed that the Indian Hockey team had not been included in the Indian delegation which has already arrived in Moscow to take part in the VIth World Youth Festival. Call For Clean-up Major Salvi, the Inspector-General of Prisons in Bombay State, lashed out at the maladministration and mismanagement that grip Maharashtra sport in the present day. Presiding over the prize distribution function of the newly organised Poona District Cricket Association (which has rebelled against the parent body--Maharashtra Cricket Association), he roundly denounced the powers-that-be for the sorry state of sport in Maharashtra and declared that no progress of any kind was possible unless drastic measures were taken to introduce and maintain democratic procedures in the management of sports activities. He exhorted the cricketers of Maharashtra to stand by the dissident body against the dictatorship of the Maharashtra Cricket Association. This is throwing the gauntlet right in the face of established authority. Pak. Hockey Tour of New Zealand Off Pakistan's hockey tour of New Zealand this year is off, Mr. W.H. Down, Secretary of New Zealand Hockey Association, has reported. "Advice has been received from Pakistan to the effect that the Pakistan Hockey Federation, which approved of the tour some months ago, has now wlthdrawn its consent. Full reasons for thsi withdrawal are not yet known," said Down. He could not say whether the spread of the flu epidemic to Pakistan bad affected the decision. National Sports 9
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[[image: photo of Mr. Naval Tata]]
