PUNJAB EXPRESS NEWSPAPER 1 9 NOVEMBER 2019
India’s Harmanpreet
Singh in action against
Belgium in Antwerp.
by Ramandeep
Singh
GUEST COLUMN
HAVING stayed out of
action for almost a year,
getting back into the
rhythm to play top quality
matches does take
some time. While my
injury phase was extremely challenging
both mentally and physically,
I never gave up the desire to
wear the India jersey again. During
these trying times, I would often
speak to Kanwalpreet Singh, also
an International hockey player now
with Punjab Police. He too had suffered
a knee injury and he
could relate to the problems
I was facing. Speaking
to him helped me a lot
during the rehab stage.
Although this phase of my
career is behind me now, to
return to the squad and win
back my team’s trust was important.
After a long injury break,
there is always a niggling doubt
about whether the player can be
as good as he once was. I needed
Volker Herrmann
BELGIUM
TOUR WAS
FRUITFUL
Hamilton wins Mexican GP,but waits for championship
LEWIS Hamilton drove to a near-flawless
victory, but not yet a sixth drivers’
world championship on Sunday when
he claimed his 10th win of the season for
Mercedes at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The defending five-time title-winner
produced the measured drive of a champion
elect to claim a well-judged triumph
ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel
and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri
Bottas who kept his own title bid alive
for another week by finishing third.
Charles Leclerc, who started on pole
position in the second Ferrari, finished
fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Alex Albon
and Max Verstappen, who stormed
through the field after an early pit stop,
and Sergio Perez of Racing Point.
Daniel Ricciardo came home eighth
for Renault ahead of the two Toro
Rosso’s of Pierre Gasly and Nico
Hulkenberg in the second Renault.
Hamilton’s victory was only his second
since Formula One’s European
summer break in August, his second in
Mexico and the 83rd of his career, but it
was also Mercedes’ 100th victory in Formula
One and extended his run pointsscoring
finishes to 30 races. He now
looks certain to clinch his sixth title at
next weekend’s United States Grand
Prix in Austin, Texas, where he will
need just four points.
“That was for Bono!” said Hamilton
on his slow-down lap in reference to
his absent race engineer Peter
Bonnington.
“Today’s an incredible result
and I have to say thank you
to our team. We came here
on the back foot, but we
pulled through.”
After winning his last
two titles in Mexico
without even finishing on the
podium, it was ironic for Hamilton to
win but know he has to wait for a
sixth coronation.
“I enjoyed it,” said Bottas, who survived
a heavy crash in qualifying on
Saturday.
“Considering what happened yesterday,
it’s a good result... I don’t think we
could have done much more.”
Hamilton added: “I don’t mind not
winning the title here. I can wait. I just
love racing and I am happy to take each
race as it comes.
Four-time champion Vettel
said: “It was a long race with
no break, but I think Lewis
was just cruising for most
of his second sting. I’m
happy, but we could
have had a sharper
strategy.”
Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton dons a Mexican
Charro hat as he celebrates his victory.
Camp for
400m stars
in Kerala
from Nov 15
By Aditya K Halder
in New Delhi
INDIA’S quarter-miler group,
which trained in Europe under
chief coach Galina Bukharina
last season, will be training in
Trivandrum’s LNCPE athletics
ground from November 15
onwards, confirmed Athletics
Federation of India’s (AFI)
high-performance director
Volker Herrmann.
MAIL TODAY earlier reported in
September that AFI is planning
to shift the quarter-milers
training camp from Patiala to
Trivandrum as the cold
weather in Punjab during the
winters will not be helpful for
the runners to train in.
The group of 17 men’s and
women’s 400m runners,
including injured athletes
Hima Das, Saritaben Gayakwad,
and Rajiv Arokia, will
train under coach Galina
Bukharina and Raj Mohan at
the facility till mid-March.
While AFI has remained tightlipped
on mysterious injuries
to Hima and Saritaben, Rajiv is
currently undergoing treatment
on his injured toe in Pune
and is expected to join the
camp by November 1 in Patiala.
“The national camp in Trivandrum
will start from November
15 onwards. The list
includes 17 athletes including
Hima, Sarita and Rajiv,” Herrmann
told MAIL TODAY from
Patiala. “The group will start
training under coach Galina
and Raj Mohan in Patiala next
week and then the camp will
move to Trivandrum from
thereon till March next year.”
The AFI official has also said
the group will then take part
in few of the Indian Grand Prix
and Federation Cup next year
before heading to Europe to
compete in events of higher
IAAF rating unlike last season.
“The group will run in the
local competitions scheduled
in March-April and then will
go to Europe to take part in
different competitions which
will be more competitive than
last year. The camp will continue
in Europe till the
Olympics,” he said.
However, the plan might get
an early jolt as the paper has
learnt from another AFI official
that the track in LNCPE is not
ready for training yet and is
not certain if the lot will be
training in Kerala as per
the schedule.
Rival
Vettel and
Bottas finish 2nd
& 3rd respectively
to get that thought out of the
way and prove to myself and
others that I am as good or better
than I was before the injury.
The Belgium Tour particularly
was a good challenge ahead of
the FIH Olympic Qualifier. We
had not played a strong team
such as Belgium and Spain in a
while and it was good to see
where we stand in terms of performing
against a quality side.
Training with the Netherlands
team was good too as it opened
our minds up about the kind of
changes we needed to make in
our approach towards everyday
training. It was interesting to
learn about the level of intensity
they brought to their sessions.
We have been implementing a
few changes in the way we train
since the time we have been in
camp here in Bhubaneswar.
Though our style of play remains
the same, we have tried to overcome
the loopholes in our attack
and defence. The FIH Olympic
Qualifiers are extremely significant
and no team can be taken
lightly. We saw how Pakistan
almost upset the Netherlands in
their first match. We cannot allow
such slip-ups to happen and we
need to be on top of our game in
both matches.
—The writer is
an Indian hockey player
India will take on
Russia in two-legged
Olympic qualifiers.
It prepared team
well for Olympic
qualifiers