Photograph courtesy IBNLive.com

ndian hockey team goalkeeper Baljeet Singh Dhadval suffered a devastating eye injury while training with a golf ball with goalkeeping coach Romeo James at the Balevadi Sports Complex in Pune on July 17. His cornea, lens and retina were badly damaged when the golf ball sneaked through his visor to damage his right eye. He also suffered several bone fractures.

Baljeet was immediately airlifted to Delhi, where he underwent an emergency 4-hour eye surgery under cornea specialist Dr. Sudarshan Khokhar the following day at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital.

AIIMS is a bloody third-world hospital, and a shame to India. Baljeet was shocked to find a cockroach in his paneer sabzi at the AIIMS, and immediately complained to the waiter, who told him to speak to the canteen head. When he complained to the canteen contractor, he was told to speak with the AIIMS dietician about this.

Baljeet found out that the dietician was on leave that day, and her assistant had taken a half-day leave, which meant that no one was present to take his complaint. Frustrated and tired, Baljeet called the dietician, who was downright rude, and instead of taking his compliant, made him feel guilty about calling her during her leave.

This ignoramus of a dietician would have been fired on the spot in any civilised country, for negligence of her duties.

Said Baljeet: "It is sad that if a guy like me, who is supposed to be getting special treatment, is facing such problems, then what happens to the regular patients at the AIIMS."

Baljeet told CNN-IBN's Chief Sports Correspondent, Digvijay Singh Deo:

"It's been 10 days to the injury and there is no pain now, but there is no improvement in the visibility. I cannot see anything. There is some swelling in the eye and the bleeding has not gone down properly right now. One gets injured a lot during practice and some injuries can be quite painful but I had never thought that I would have to face something like this. This is the worst moment in a player's life. I was quite fit at this point in my career and was performing well. In the coming months, there are important tournaments which I had been keen to take part in. I feel bad that I have been injured at a time when I was close to realising my dream."

The Indian hockey team is shaken by the news. The team's coach said that Baljeet has been the number one goalkeeper for India for the past two years.

Teammate Tushar Khandkar said, "Baljeet is our very aggressive and talented goalkeeper. With him not there under the bars, we'll be under pressure."

Hockey India and the Sports Authority of India decided to bear the cost of Baljeet's medical expenses, and he was flown to USA on August 4 for further treatment at the Retina Specialists of Alabama Hospital, under world renowned eye specialist Dr. Robert Morris.

Baljeet was accompanied by Dr Kiran Gopalakrishnan, a member of the AIIMS) team that had performed a surgery on his eye.

Doctors in the US who examined Baljeet's injured right eye say he stands a slight chance of regaining his eyesight after further surgery. The entire procedure has been estimated to cost around $21,000 by the hospital. He will have his post-operative treatment at John Hopkins Medical Centre, Baltimore.

Indian Olympic Association secretary Randheer Singh thanked the Ministry of Sports: "I want to thank the government for making all the arrangements and issuing a passport to Baljeet's father in no time so that he can accompany his son. It was also appreciable on the American embassy's part to issue visas urgently."

Artificial Turf Field in Shilaroo, Himachal Pradesh

he highest artifical turf hockey ground in India, situated at an altitude of 2,450 metres, has been built by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Shilaroo, near Narkanda, in Himachal Pradesh. The cost of the turf is approximately Rs. 353 lakhs, and it took two years to complete. The ground, situated near the National Highway 22, is about 50 kilometres away from the state capital Shimla.

Said Jitendra Vaidya, in charge of SAI in Shilaroo: "This turf will help our players when they go for European tours, where the climatic conditions can be quite cold."

Fitness camps will also be organised in the ground for both national and international players. Construction of the hostel and residential accommodation facilities for the players at Shilaroo is also under process.

A former chief hockey coach at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala criticised the location of this turf field. He said: "Sports disciplines like boxing, wrestling and judo are good for training at Shilaroo. It is also aptly suited for recovery and physical fitness. But for hockey, a synthetic turf at Shilaroo is just a waste of public money. There can be no hockey camp and training at Shilaroo between September and March due to the excessive cold. For around seven months in an year, the turf will remain unutilised."

Dhananjay Mahadik being tackled by Ashley Jackson in the first test

3-test series was held between India and England at the University of Birmingham, from July 29 to August 2. This was the first leg of a 4-nation European tour, which sees India play test matches in England, Belgium, Spain and Netherlands. This was India's first tour under the new Spanish chief coach Jose Brasa.

Before the tour, India suffered a serious blow when tried and tested goalkeeper, Baljeet Singh, suffered a severe eye injury when practising with a golf ball. Baljeet was flown to USA for treatment, while P. R. Sreejesh took his place as goalkeeper on the European tour.

The opening ceremony of the 3-test series with England had the Lord Mayor of Birmingham meeting the two teams.

India lost the 3-test series to England 1-2, with the match results as shown below:

Date	Result	Goal Scorers - India
Jul 29	England 3 - India 1	Dhananjay Mahadik (8 m, PC)
Jul 31	India 4 - England 3	Arjun Halappa (35 m, PC) Dhananjay Mahadik (41 m, PC) Rajpal Singh (43 m) Gurvinder Singh Chandi (69 m)
Aug 2	England 3 - India 2	Vikram Pillai (3 m, PS) S. V. Sunil (18 m)

The next stop for India in this 4-nation European tour is Antwerp, where they will play a 3-test series against Belgium.

The Indian team was as follows:

Goalkeepers: Adrian D'Souza, P. R. Sreejesh

Full-backs: Sandeep Singh, V. R. Raghunath

Half-backs: Ignace Tirkey, Vikram Pillai, Gurbaj Singh, Prabodh Tirkey, Dhananjay Mahadik, Arjun Halappa, Sardara Singh, Birendra Lakra

Forwards: Rajpal Singh (captain), Prabhjyot Singh, S. V. Sunil, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Ajitesh Roy, V. S. Vinaya, Shivendra Singh, Tushar Khandkar

Officials: Jose Brasa (chief coach), Romeo James (goalkeepers coach)

India's u-18 women's team. Photo courtesy Indian Express

he 2nd Sub-junior (u-18) Women's Asia Cup was held at Shanghai from July 20 - July 26. As part of the team's preparations, a nearly 6-week coaching camp (June 6 to July 16) was organised by the Sports Authority of India at its Lucknow centre.

The team was led by 16-year-old N. Amubi Devi, who hails from a remote village called Baihikag in Manipur. Only three players in the team had prior international exposure - Amubi Devi, Sunita Lakra and Sushila Chanu.

India's match results in the 2nd Sub-junior Asia Cup were as follows:

Stage	Date	Result	Goal Scorers - India
Pool	July 20	India 20 - Sri Lanka 0	Binita Kindo (8 goals) Jamila Bano (6 goals) Anupa Barla (2 goals) Apoorva Vishvakarma (2 goals) Anila Sosan Beck (1 goal) Rajni (1 goal)
	July 21	India 2 - China 2	Rajni (22 m-PC, 48 m-PS)
	July 23	India 10 - Thailand 0	Anupa Barla (3 goals) Jamila Bano (2 goals)
Semis	July 25	South Korea 5 - India 1
3rd-4th	July 26	Japan 3 - India 1	Jamila Bano

The India under-18 team was as follows:

Goalkeepers: Suniti Kispota, N Sanarika Chanu

Full-backs: Th. Pinki Devi, Apoorva Vishvakarma

Midfielders: Monica, P. Susheela Chanu, Sunita Lakra, N. Amubi Devi (Captain), Jamila Bano, Jyoti Sharma, Lalrothuami

Forwards: Anupa Barla, Binita Kindo, Kavita Vidyarthi, Anila Sosan Beck, Ramngaihzuali, Pratibha Chaudhary, Rajni

Officials: G. S. Bhangu (chief coach), Y. S. Chauhan (coach), Helen Soy (manager), Inderjit Singh Gill (phyiscal trainer), Iksha Khare (physiotherapist), T. Asha (umpire), Davinder Bhatia (Judge)

utch company Greenfields Sports Turf System is now setting up artificial turf fields in India. They have a manufacturing facility in Dubai,

Greenfields currently has 3 artificial turf installation projects in India: National Defence Academy (Khadakvasla), Anna Stadium (Tiruchirapalli) and Bangalore Stadium. The turf projects in the pipeline are Gorkha Rifles Training Centre (Shillong) and Bombay Engineering Group - BEG (Khadki).

The following GreenFields turf systems have been certified by the FIH:

• REAL FT 45
• HT 6.6
• HT PA 13
• HT LSR 13
• HT LSR 20

Greenfields India distributors are Tushar Bhandari and Deepak Khanolkar.

There will hopefully be a day when there will be a fully integrated artificial turf manufacturing company in India (Greenfields? Reliance? Other?) - from the production of synthetic yarn, to the tufting of the yarn into carpets, to the field installation and maintenance of the synthetic carpets.

Harvard University's Jordan Field (© FIH / Carlos García C.)

he Photograph of the Month for August 2009 shows a night game at Harvard University, Boston's Jordan Field, during the Jr. Women's World Cup.

To accompany the above photograph, we quote from a blog http://iambetterthanthebest.blogspot.com/, authored by Rahul, who is presently in Boston.

Most of you will not know, but there is Women's Junior (u-21) Hockey World Cup 2009 going on in Boston (USA) these days; even I didn't know that. I went to one of my usual visits to Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) this week, and saw a young Indian girl sitting there in a sports dress which said Indian Hockey.

It's always exciting to see Indians when you are living abroad, especially when they don't seem to be ABCDs or the obnoxious types. So just out of curiosity, I asked her that what was she doing there. I thought they were here for some training or something, but it turns out that she was here with the Indian women's hockey team to play Junior World Cup 2009.

I was surprised to know that there was a World Cup happening in Boston/Cambridge, and that India was playing in it. There are no hoardings or posters and not even any kind of promotion or advertisement around here for this.

But anyway, the girl's name was Vandana (from Lucknow). I found out from her that one of their team's players, Vaishali, got injured in the match with Australia (India defeated Australia 3-2 and also defeated Belarus a day back 6-0).

Then I talked to their physiotherapist Vikas, and told them that I'll try to see their match with USA on Thursday (today). I wasn't feeling very well today, and had a lot of work to do as well. But I was able to wrap up my work by 6:15 pm, and I decided to go and see the 7 pm match (after all, India was playing yaar!!).

The matches are being played in Harvard University grounds, which is around half an hour away from my place. I asked a few people, but no one else seemed interested to go. It was my first time to Harvard (which is a very nice place and I really liked it).

My only introduction with hockey before today was through Chak De India and because of which I knew that the match is played for 70 minutes (remember the motivational speech Shahrukh Khan gives to the girls saying "sattar minute").

I was not actually even watching the match but just talking on phone initially. Then I started looking in the ground to identify the girl I met at MGH, and maybe take some pictures too.

The Indian team was trying to make a goal at that time and the ball was being dribbled amazingly between those hockey sticks by our Indian girls. I suddenly realized that it's not a movie and it's not sure that this will turn into a goal... and it did not.

I got so engrossed in the match. My heart was pounding & breath running as the ball was running on that field (I was literally gonna pass out, I felt). I was one of the very few Indians there, and the stadium was filled with Americans cheering for the US team. But I didn't feel lonely, I felt proud....

he world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero Honda Motors Ltd., has been named the title sponsor for the 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup, to be held in Delhi in March 2010.

The announcement was made at a glittering ceremony in Delhi in the presence of International Hockey Federation president Leandro Negre, Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi, Hockey India president AK Mattoo and the 1975 World Cup winning members of the Indian team.

According to sources, the sponsorship deal is worth around Rs. 12 crores. Out of that sum, Hockey India will receive a hefty amount of Rs. 1.5 crores for hosting the event.

It was also learnt that Sahara has resumed paying Hockey India the team sponsorship money. While Sahara officials did not divulge the amount paid, it was reliably learnt that Sahara sent over a quarterly sponsorship cheque of around Rs. 50 lakhs.

Hockey Graphic by Otl Aicher for the 1972 Munich Olympics

tl Aicher (1922-1991), an internationally acclaimed graphic designer, was best known for being the lead designer for the 1972 Munich Olympics. He created a new set of pictograms for the Olympics, that ultimately paved the way for the ubiquitous stick figures currently used in public signs. Aicher also created the first official Olympic Mascot, a striped dachshund named Waldi.

For his 1972 Olympic campaign, Aicher, influenced by 1960's pop art and psychedelia, married vibrant colors to photography, creating a series of brilliant images. An example is the above poster showing the Indian hockey team in action.

he August 2009 Visitor of the Month is Rajesh Chauhan from Air India. Born on 26th August, 1976 at Sonepat (Haryana), Rajesh was a student of Chotu Ram Zamidar School in Sonepat, and played international hockey from 1997-2001.

Rajesh scored a brace vs. Pakistan in Chennai test match of 1999 series, India won this match 3-0. Rajesh wrote the following to BharatiyaHockey.org:

I can help if somebody wants to improve Indian hockey. I am trying to do my part for Indian hockey.

Statistics by B. G. Joshi

he August 2009 edition of Fun with Numbers deals with Oceania Cup. The 2009 men's and women's Oceania Cup will be held from August 24-30 in Invercargill, New Zealand. The winner of the Oceania Cup gets an automatic entry into the Men's and Women's World Cup, which will be held in 2010.

6 Men's Oceania Cups have been held so far, and Australia has won every single tournament, as can be seen in the table below:

Year	Venues	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1991	Auckland, Hobart (2)	Australia	New Zealand	-
1995	Auckland	Australia	New Zealand	Fiji
1999	Brisbane	Australia	New Zealand	-
2003	Christchurch, Wellington (2)	Australia	New Zealand	-
2005	Suva (Fiji)	Australia	New Zealand	Fiji
2007	Buderim (Queensland, Australia)	Australia	New Zealand	Papua New Guinea

5 Women's Oceania Cups have been held so far. New Zealand has won 2 of these 5 tournaments, as can be seen in the table below:

Year	Venues	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1995	Auckland	New Zealand	Fiji	-
1999	Dunedin, Sydney (2)	Australia	New Zealand	-
2003	Melbourne, Auckland, Whangarei	Australia	New Zealand	-
2005	Auckland, Sydney(2)	Australia	New Zealand	-
2007	Buderim (Queensland, Australia)	New Zealand	Australia	Fiji