THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 25TIMES SPORT

REGD. NO. MCS/059/2015-17 REGD. NO. TN/Chief PMG/398/2002 RNI NO. 1547/57 ISSN 0971-8257No. 231 Vol. CLXXVIII Air Charge: Raipur & via Re 1.00 , Chennai, Kochi, Coimbatore, Ernakulam, Trivandrum & via Rs.2.00, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Udaipur, Vizag & via Rs. 4.00, Delhi, Kolkata, Patna & via Rs. 5.00. International Retail Prices (Daily): Abu Dhabi 3.50 DHS, Doha 3 QR, Dubai 3.50 DHS, Hong K ong 20 HK$, Kuwait 350 Fils,Malaysia 6.50 MR, Oman 350 Baizas, Saudi Arabia 4 SR, Singapore 4 S$, U.K. £ 1.50, U.S.A. $ 2, Canada 2 Canadian $.Published for the proprietors of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., by R. Krishnamurthy, at The Times of India Building, Dr. D.N.Road, Mumbai-400 001, Tel. No (022) 6635 3535. Fax: (022) 2273 1144 and printed by him at (1) The Times of India Subur-ban Press, Akurli Road, Western Express Highway, Kandivli (E), Mumbai-400 101. Tel No. (022) 2887 2324, 2887 2930and (2) The Times of India Print City, Plot No. 4, T.T.C. Industrial Area, Thane Belapur Road, Airoli, Navi Mumbai-400 708.Tel. No. (022) 2760 9999; Fax: (022) 2760 5275. Tel. Nos. Mumbai Response (022) 6635 3636, 2273 3636, Fax: (022)22731144, 22731401. E-Mail: toieditorial@timesgroup.com. Editor (Mumbai Market): Derick B. D’Sa - responsible for se-lection of news under PRB Act © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of Publish-er is prohibited.

Panaji: The announcement that Ro-naldinho has left Fluminense afterjust nine appearances in threemonths gave rise to wide-spread spec-ulation, and plenty of buzz on socialmedia, that he was headed to India.

At 35, the Brazilian football star isold, slow and not what he once was,but he still has his admirers aroundthe world. In the next couple of weeks,there will be suitors from Australia,China and United States lining-upwith offers for the World Cup winner.But almost out of nowhere, India hasalso emerged as an alternative marketfor world football.

The start of the Indian SuperLeague (ISL) last year saw several leg-ends talk in glowing terms about In-dia and it’s potential. Whether it’sRobert Pires, Alessandro Del Piero,David Trezeguet, David James or LuisGarcia, almost all of them have givenIndian football a thumbs-up, pavingthe way for several other players —younger and fitter this time — to lookat Indian football with more than justpassing interest.

“Players have started looking up toIndia. It’s too early to make any defini-tive statements but now only into it’ssecond season, the ISL has taken aphenomenal leap.

“We might take another five to sixyears to establish but remember thatthe MLS (Major League Soccer in theUnited State) took 15 years. We arerunning much faster,” said FC PuneCity CEO Gaurav Modwel, whose in-box was flooded with CVs of 500 foot-ballers who wanted to play in India.

FC Pune City eventually shortlist-ed 70 players who were ready to come

to India at a price the franchise waswilling to offer, and then handpickedthe 10 best — having already selectedAdrian Mutu as their marquee playerlast year — with experiences in all ofthe top European leagues.

Unlike the first season when IMG-Reliance, organizers of the ISL, select-ed the international players and askedthe franchisees to select them througha draft system, the second season sawclubs get the freedom to select andbuild a team of their choice.

The freedom, despite a salary capof Rs 15.5 crore for international play-ers has led to stunning results as thesecond edition of ISL will have play-ers — representing 28 nations — who,between them, won the Fifa WorldCup, European Championships, UE-FA Champions Leagues, PremierLeague, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A,Ligue 1, Fifa Confederation Cup andFifa Club World Cup.

“Outside the major Europeanleagues, it is hard to find a league thathas such an array of international tal-

ent,” said another franchise official.

That is, of course, partly true.Most of the players who landed hereare in the twilight of their career.Some like Roberto Carlos came out ofretirement, Adrian Mutu played acompetitive match a year ago and Si-mao Sabrosa was released by his LaLiga side Espanyol. But for every ‘ol-die’ there are several younger playerswho could still break into the PremierLeague, or at least find a place in En-gland’s fierce second-tier club compe-tition. For example, Delhi Dynamoslured Adil Nabi, 21, from West Brom-wich Albion despite the club’s YoungPlayer of the Season featuring in thisyear’s squad for the Premier League.“I will learn a lot of things, not just onthe pitch,” said Nabi who believesplaying in front of crowds more than24,000 can only help him improve as aplayer and person.

“The exposure of playing in Indiawith star players will help me in thelong run,” said Kerala Blasters win-

ger Sanchez Watt, 24, who spent themajority of his younger years underthe tutelage of Arsenal coach ArseneWenger.

Others like Andre Moritz, whomoved on to a better league — SouthKorea — after his first year in the ISLstill came back to Mumbai City, whileeven Stiven Mendoza, despite a validcontract with Brazilian top club Co-rinthians, could not resist the temptation.

“I had an opportunity to play in theISL last year but I was not ready. Ididn’t know what to expect here. Now,after hearing from (Nicolas) Anelkaand (Bernard) Mendy, I didn’t want torefuse,” said former Chelsea star Flo-rent Malouda. Even John Arne Riise,a UEFA Champions League winnerwith Liverpool in 2005, didn’t want tobe left behind.

“The ISL is intense and providesme with a chance to do something dif-ferent. May be (in January) I can go onloan and come back next year. Hope-fully, there will be better players in thenext couple of years,” said Riise.

Better Quality OfPlayers RaisesPitch For ISL

Football finds a passage to India

Marcus.Mergulhao@timesgroup.com

John Arne Riise (left) and Florent Malouda are among the growing number of foreignersplaying in the Indian Super League

TOI

National team: 1,394Champions League: 743Premier League: 1,695La Liga: 2,659Bundesliga: 340Serie A: 874Ligue 1: 1,490FOREIGN PLAYERS IN ISL:Brazil (18), Spain (15), England (10),France (7), Portugal (4),Netherlands (3), Italy (3), Haiti (2),Argentina (2), Ivory Coast (2),Ghana (2), Botswana, South Africa,Canada, Armenia, Colombia,Ethiopia, Norway, Scotland,Ireland, Tunisia, Czech Republic,Zambia, Senegal, Romania, Turkey,Costa Rica and Nigeria.

Appearance ofplayers in ISL

Bengaluru: Four minutes, 8.26 sec-onds. The magical numbers on theamber scoreboard inside the Olym-pic Aquatic Centre in Athens glowedat him as Michael Phelps tried to com-prehend what he had just achieved —his first Olympic gold medal, em-bossed with a world record.

Euphoria engulfed the aquaticcentre on August 14, 2004 as a teary-eyed Phelps emerged from the pooland trudged towards the warm-downarea. Clutching a peanut butter jellysandwich in one hand and the 400mindividual medley medal in the other,the 19-year-old made his way to achain-link fence, on the other side ofwhich stood his ‘Rock of Gibraltar’ —his mother Debbie and elder sistersHilary and Whitney.

Phelps slid the medal through thesmall gap in the fence and whisperedto his family, “I did it”.

“It remains one of the most in-credible memories for our family,”Hilary, on her maiden trip to India, re-called. “There was no media, no pho-tographers to capture it. It was ourprivate, happy moment. We jokedthat it felt like we were at the zoo.”

His 22-medal haul makes him themost decorated Olympian of all time,amentally tough, swimming phenomwith a Greek god physique. But at theheart of it, it’s the three women and a

tightly-knit family that took creditfor the 30-year-old’s perseverance forsporting greatness.

As a five-year-old, Phelps was nev-er interested in swimming. Forced togo along with his sisters for their

swim lessons, Phelps, as Hilary putsit, ‘didn’t have a choice.’ "He used tohate water touching his face. SoCathy Bennett, his first instructor,flipped him over and taught himbackstroke. Slowly, he got the hang ofit,” the 37-year-old said.

At the age of nine, Phelps was di-

agnosed with Attention Deficit Hy-peractivity Disorder (ADHD), butDebbie never gave up. “I was in col-lege when that happened. My mumdid a lot of visualization with himand he still uses it to this day when he

prepares for races. In the stands, shewould form a ‘C’ with her hand, signi-fying composure, whenever she no-ticed that Michael was stressed be-fore a race. She would sit with himand quiet his mind. At every meet, hevisualizes the race in his head andhow it should unfold,” Hilary ex-

plained. Even his decision to come back

from retirement two years ago wasfirst conveyed to his ladies. “He left usa voice mail at 3am on April 15, 2013. Istill have the recording. He had justbought a house in Mexico. The mess-age said ‘Pack your bags we are goingon a trip.’ Just when we thought thiswas finally going to be the family va-cation we had never taken, he added,‘One more time. I’m going for Rio’,”Hillary recalled.

Hilary takes pride in saying thatthe family grew up around the pool.She was the first to foray into compet-itive swimming, winning a four-yearscholarship at the University of Rich-mond, where she broke four schoolrecords, and later completed an Iron-man Triathlon in 2010. Whitney, twoyears younger to her, representedTeam USA at the 1994 FINA WorldChampionships in Rome and almostmade it to the 1996 Atlanta Games.But it was Phelps who was meant forgreater glory.

The trio has been a regular fixtureat Phelps’ Olympic journeys at Syd-ney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing(2008) and London (2012) and plan tocontinue their support at Rio nextyear as well. Likewise, Phelps did hispart in being the cheerleader whenHilary completed the Ironman andWhitney ran the 2012 New York Marathon.

Mother, sisters help create Phelps phenomMaxin.Mathew@timesgroup.com

Michael Phelps with his mother Debbie and sisters Hilary and Whitney (right)

Getty Images

MAKING OF A LEGEND

Hong Kong: Viraj Madap-pa, the high-est-rankedamateurfrom India,is the coun-try’s bestbet when he

tees off at the picturesqueClearwater Bay Golf &Country Club here onThursday for the Asia-Pa-cific Amateur Champion-ship (AAC).

The 17-year-old Kolka-tan, who began playing atthe age of nine at the Tolly-gunge Club, is appearing

for the third time in thischampionship. He has wonseven times in amateurevents around Asia sincelast year’s Asia-Pacific. Ma-dappa has been in goodform of late, recording a no-table win at the TaiwanAmateur Golf Champion-ship and becoming the firstamateur from India to playat the Porter Cup in theUnited States recently.

In his maiden appear-ance 23-year-old SamarthDwivedi, who won in theWestern India Amateurand the Kerala Amateur butmissed the cut in the IndianOpen, will also hope tomake an impression. Sowill 20-year-old Aman Rajin his second essay. The oth-er Indians in fray are Ka-randeep Kochar, Veer Ahla-wat and Priyanshu Singh.

Australia’s AntonioMurdaca is the defendingchampion and one of twoformer winners in the fieldin Hong Kong. The Ade-laide native won by an im-pressive seven strokes ayear ago in front of hishome crowd at the RoyalMelbourne Golf Club to be-come the first AAC cham-pion from Down Under. Hisform has been solid this sea-son, recording a win at theSouth Australia AmateurClassic and an 11th placefinish at the St AndrewsLinks Trophy. A strongchallenge will come fromfellow countryman RyanRuffels, the region’s No. 1-ranked player. He is the onlygolfer from Asia-Pacific tooccupy a top-10 spot in theWorld Amateur Golf Rank-ing. The 2012 AAC cham-pion, teenage sensationGuan Tianlang from China,will look to utilise his tour-nament experience and tryto win a second title.

Another Chinese JinCheng, who was in conten-tion last year in Melbourne,will head into this cham-pionship with a lot of confi-dence following a numberof solid performances onthe national tour.

Local hope rests on LeonPhilip D’Souza and MichaelRegan Wong, the top-2 Or-der of Merit leaders respec-tively on the Hong Kong ju-nior circuit. Both will maketheir debut at AAC, whichoffers the winner a direct in-vitation to the year’s firstMajor Augusta Masters.

Madappa, India’sbest bet in AAC

Ajit.Bezbaruah@timesgroup.com

GOLF

Bengaluru: Differently-abled highjumper HNGirisha didIndia proud,opening thecountry’s ac-count with a

silver medal at the presti-gious World Games orga-nized by the InternationalWheelchair and AmputeeSports (IWAS) Federation inSochi, Russia on Tuesday.

The star para-athletefrom Hassan district in Kar-nataka – who became thetoast of the nation after win-ning the silver medal at theLondon Paralympic Gamesin 2012 – cleared 1.69 metrescompeting in the F-42 cate-gory to win the second place.Poland’s Lukasz Mamczarz(1.78m) took the gold whilehis compatriot Marcel Ja-roslawski (1.50m) settled forbronze at the South SportsAthletics Centre in Sochi.

It was a creditableachievement for Girisha,who has a personal best of1.75m, as he went into themeet after recovering from acrippling bout of dengue.

“I am happy with my per-formance as I was down withdengue last month. I’ve wontwo international medals af-ter recovering from it. Thefirst was a bronze at the Bra-zilian International Athlet-ics Championship where Icleared 1.71 metres. I quali-fied for next year’s Rio Para-lympic Games thanks to thiseffort. All these competi-tions will prove crucial,helping me in my prepara-tions towards a medal inRio,” the 27-year-old Girishatold TOI from Sochi.

Tuesday’s silver was alsoGirisha’s third medal at theIWAS Games. In 2007 and2009, he had won bronze.

With the ParalympicCommittee of India (PCI)suspended by the world bodyand also by the central gov-ernment, most of the para-athletes in the Indian con-tingent pooled in their ownmoney to travel to Sochi.However, Girisha had nosuch problems as he is partof the Target Olympic Podi-um (TOP) scheme.

“Only PCI has been sus-pended. They have allowedIndian athletes to competeunder the national flag,” hesaid.

Silver for Girishaat IWAS Games

Biju.BabuCyriac@timesgroup.com

mtantare@gmail.com ❙ £ ❙ mumbai.mtonline.in

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anuja.chawathey@timesgroup.com

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