BOMBAY, 15 December 2004 — Glorious summer and a winter of discontent illustrate the contrasts on India’s balance sheet for the year about to end. None will, however, deny that there has been more to cheer than jeer. The one silver medal in the Olympics has been the symbol of an unprecedented achievement because no Indian had ever won an individual silver before. The hockey team has long fallen off the old gold standard.
Cricket victory over Pakistan in their own backyard, in both forms of the game, was as stupendous an achievement as to make the long summer unforgettable. After the autumnal see-saw of two defeats and a win against Australia in the home series, India just about managed to scrape through past South Africa. As winter set in, it brought with it anguish and anxiety.
There was sadness all round as the biggest tournament in the country, Federation Cup, ended in an unfortunate death of a footballer on the very field of play. Cristiano DeLima Junior, an import from Brazil and the highest-paid professional in the country must have been looking forward to a great celebration as he pumped in two goals to enable his club, Dempo Sports, clinch the title. But just as the right foot hit the ball into an empty goal, he tried to evade a blow from the rival goalkeeper and next moment he had fallen to the ground like a log. He never got up again.
The tragedy shook the sporting world. There were several post-mortems of the incident, apart from one on the dead footballer. This led to an unnecessary blame game. Death, according to medical reports, was “sudden” and instantaneous and, however, unsporting the foul committed by the Mohun Bagan goalkeeper, he cannot be held responsible for the grim tragedy that struck Indian football and a visitor from the most celebrated country in the football world.
The anguish of the death of an outstanding footballer soon gave way to anxiety, as the departure of the Indian cricket team for a short tour of Bangladesh was stalled on account of death threat received by the players through a fax message to the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka.
This is not the first time that such a message has emerged from nowhere to stop a cricket tour in the sub-continent. This had happened before when New Zealand and India were to tour Pakistan. Such threats were the cause of concern even in India and Sri Lanka.
However much we may have become used to such threats, no one in his right mind can ever take such threats lightly. On account of this uncertain perception of fear, things may become difficult as much for the hosts as it will be for the visiting teams. But the effort has always been to defeat the evil design of the enemies of peace, whether it is real or just a hoax.
So, once again an elaborate exercise is being undertaken to provide fool-proof safety and worry-free assurances. A special team of government and cricket officials visited Bangladesh for on-the-spot inspection of the venues of matches and several useful suggestions have emerged from the meeting of representatives of both countries.
No host would risk even the slightest breach in the security cover to be provided to such important visitors who would be otherwise be adulated by the masses and hence will put their best foot forward. These days no cricket tour ever takes place without some kind of threat or other being issued by those who just want to disrupt popular and friendly exchange of visits of sportsmen.
