The importance of being Vijay Amritraj

Retired sportsmen are of different kinds. Some become coaches, some retire into family life, some reinvet themsleves and become very successful.

There have been many glamourous retired Internationals who have been a roaring success, but I am yet to come across anybody as successful and non-controversial as Vijay Amritraj.

Every time I have met him, I have invariably returned satisfied. Confident that I would provide a colourful and highly readable copy. More than that, what struck me about him were his accessiblity and charm, the characters missing in others as famous as him.

He has had his share of differences with the administration and other players during his heyday. Recently when I met him, I asked him whether he is writing an autobiography. He only smiled.

He is very tactful when he wants to. During 2003 Tata Open, he organised a press conference to tell us about the wounding up of Britannia Amritraj Trust, a tennis academy formed by his mother Margaret to train promising youngsters. Leander Paes is a product of BAT.

He said or rather mumbled a few words and the PC was over.

Only much later after the PC did the journalists realised that they hadn't got the answers. They went over to Vijay personally to ask him about the 'real' reasons for BAT's closure.

The reason why I am writing about Vijay is that his role in the five years (2005-2009) of the rechristened Chennai ATP Open will be of much significance.

His rapport with current international stars and with the TN government is very good.

He will play an important role in the success or failure of the Chennai ATP Open. If he could somehow rope in Roger Federer (he said he almost brought him to Chennai this time) and convince Andre Agassi to have a vacation in Chennai, the city will be thankful to him.

And if he doesn't, the hard-to-please spectators would not bother to know where Nungambakkam Stadium is located. With telecast being in Ten Sports (CAS and all). the officials will have a tough task at hand. So does Vijay.

How not to exercise

It was a routine off-day or so I thought. At around 8.30 a.m. on December 10 when I completed my exercises at house, I ventured out to buy a magazine. For the next 25 minutes or so, I felt an acute pain in my back. I walked diaognally, more like a giraffe, u can say.

Unable to tolerate the pain, I rushed to the Bone and Joint Clinic in Anna Nagar. After taking an X-ray I met the doctor who said there is nothing to worry except that I undergo physiotherapy sessions.

The physio, smart and jovial chap within minutes of talking with me found out the problem.

"Sir what exercises you do," he asked. The normal stretching exercises," I replied.

I also told him about the stretching routine where lie down on your back and make contact with nose and the knees. I dutifuly did it for him.

With a smile, the physio said, "that's what caused the pain."

That exercise, he said, should be done after you have through with your running, and not in the early morning (which I have been doing for nearly six months).

"Don'ty worry sir, three days of physiotherapy sessions and the pain will vanish. I am hopeful.

PS: When you do any exercise, consult the 'right' people. Otherwise you might end up with a problem. Back problem, to be precise.

A decaying sport

Covering local sports events in the city of Chennai is a task filled with lot of pitfalls and less of pleasure.

There is no scope for playing with words for with a strict 200 word "orders". And there is little you can do by way of explaining things.

On some days, local sports go out of control. Like it happened on Friday when I covereed the match between Chennai Customs and Indian Bank in the State-ranking football tournament at the Nehru Stadium.

In normal days, players play a rough game, abuse the referee when decisions go against their team. These are considered normal today.

Referee V. Subramani was slapped by a Customs player when the former cautioned him with a yellow card for foul play.

When the match was coming to a close, I suddenly saw a Customs player doing a Jackie Chan.

For a moment, I wondered whether I was seeing a huge bird. That Customs man gave a flying kick to an Indian Bank forward for pulling the former down.

The football scene is seeing the worst of times with virtually nobody coming to the stadium (except for some drunken b****). These b** threaten the referee with words "nee vella vaa unna parthikeran.."

After the "flying kick" incident, an official narrated me a tale of how referee Pradeep Kumar tackled such incidents.

During one of local league matches last season, Pradeep had given a contentious decision which the teams' fans did not like. They kept berating him throughout the contest.

As Pradeep left the stadium, couple of unruly elements surrounded him. Seeing them, Pradeep said, "Vangada, ennada enna Aruvalala vettuvengala..vangada..naa readydhan.."

Seeing a reputed referee ready for a fight, the motley crowd dispersed.

Such is the state of football in the city, which has seen in the early 60s and 70s crowd swelling for all local tournaments.

For a reporter such incidents only deepens the animosity towards the game.

Not only has the quality of game dipped, such behaviour only deepens the existing anger.