Final on Thursday, Jamia wait for just reward

Final on Thursday, Jamia wait for just reward
S. Santhanam

New Delhi, January 7: Ten wins on the trot. This unenviable record by the Jamia Millia Islamia in the 60th North Zone and All India inter-varsity hockey championships has yet again underlined the importance accorded to the game by the university and, more importantly, its contribution to Indian hockey in recent years.

In fact, Jamia has been making remarkable achievements in the game over the last three years with a number of its players making it to the national teams at different prestigeous tournaments as well as in international meets. But sadly, the university's achievements in the field of sports, especially in hockey and cricket, have remained underplayed both by the media and by the institution itself.

With the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) deciding to promote the game at the college and university level, Jamia seem to have taken the lead. This augurs well for the game as a Combined Universities team, expected to be fielded against touring teams in the near future, should bring in the desired results.

To this end, Jamia team's tour to Sri Lanka in August last was the beginning. It played matches against the Lanka Board President's XI, Lankan Air Force, Police and their Development squads, besides the Lankan national team. ``It was a successful tour. We won eight of the nine matches we played,'' says team coach Mohd Monius.

Gagan Ajit Singh, a member of the Indian team at the Sydney Olympic Games last year, was among the numerous Jamia hockey stars to have made it to the national side in recent years.

``We only concentrate on a few games in which we feel comfortable. There is no point in participating in disciplines where we have no chance or end up at the bottom,'' says Noor Mohd, the University's Director of Sports.

``With a team of dedicated coaches and a supportive management, we have been doing well at varsity level. Several of our players have been called up for national camps and have also been with the Air India Academy, sharpening their skills,'' adds Noor Mohd.

This year's North Zone and All India inter-varsity tournaments have particularly been a happy occasion for the hosts as they almost outplayed every opponent they have met so far. Centre-forward Hamza Mujtaba was the dominating factor, scoring 25 goals with three hat-tricks, in their hour of triumph. Jamia scored 47 goals without conceding any in seven matches in the North Zone tournament and had a ratio of 19:1 in the All India tourney so far, an indication of their domination.

``A title victory at the All India inter-varsity tournament -- the final is scheduled for Tuesday -- will be just reward for our efforts in the last couple of years,'' opines Noor Mohd.

Represented the country:
Gagan Ajit Singh (1998-2000): in Sydney Olympics.
Devesh Singh Chauhan (1999-2000): in Sydney Olympics.
Prabhjot Singh (1998-2000): stand-by for Sydney Olympics.
Anurag Raghuvanshi (1997-2000): India in Asia Cup 2000.
Sandeep Kumar (1998-1999): in Egypt.
Kamlesh Kumar Singh (1999): in Poland.

Represented Indian Universities:
1997-98:
Ajit Singh.
1998-99 (Tour of Australia):
Mahesh Rawat, Jasved Singh, Mohd Farhad, Prabhjot Singh, Gurvinder Singh.
1999-2000:
Khushmeet Singh (captain), Hamza Mujtaba, Sandeep Kumar, Gurvinder Pal Singh.
2000-2001:
Sudhir Kumar Singh, Rajesh Yadav, Vivek Gupta, Sandeep Kumar, Satish Kumar, Sanjeet Kumar, Kulvinder Singh, Rohit Sharma.

Major achievements:
1997-98: Runners-up: North Zone inter-varsity; Third place: All India inter-varsity; Third place: Nehru-SAIL Championship Colleges tournament.

1998-99: Third place: Nehru-SAIL Championship Colleges tournament.