Croatia’s prominence in the football World Cup freshened memories of its origin in the war which expanded after German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher recognised Croatian and Slovenian independence, ahead of other European Union countries which were palpitating because German reunification in 1989 had already added to their anxieties.

As the Persian expression goes, “Ek na shud, do shud.” Before one source of anxiety could subside, another surfaced. Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, headquartered in Zagreb’s magnificent Cathedral, marched off to the Vatican to seek the Pope’s and Italy’s support. This was promptly given. Some EU member-countries began to have nightmares of the “Axis” being revived.

I was in the Cardinal’s office in the Cathedral which dominates Zagreb square when the door of the ante room flung open and Father Juraj Jezerinac of the Topusko Parish walked in. I had been introduced to him at the earliest stages of the conflict in one of the livelier cafes in Zagreb square. He was full of stories. One night his orthodox Serb counterpart from the neighbouring church compound came to him, looking very conspiratorial.

He had received word from the Orthodox headquarters in Belgrade that Orthodox Priests must lead all Serb populations out of Western Croatia in the Topusko area because the Serb army was preparing to attack the area and annex it as part of Greater Serbia. This was a scoop.

Was further proof required to confirm coordination between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches? They would put aside their intra-church conflicts and join hands against the Bosnian Muslims. The cruel irony was that Sarajevo, the centre of art, music, theatre, literature in former Yugoslavia, was primarily a Bosnian Muslim city. Like Lucknow, Sarajevo went down, nursing art and culture, unable to cope with the assault of philistinism.

At the outset when, some EU members suspected German and Italian encroachments, Britain and France came covertly on the side of Serbia which had been with them during World War II. Gen. Michael Rose, leading the UN Peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, became a regular feature on global TV giving briefs on the Bosnian dead on a daily basis.

Nothing could have exceeded Serbian brutality than the four-year-long siege of Sarajevo. Graphic accounts of this siege, beamed mornings, afternoons, evenings to global audiences on a daily basis, decisively altered the political landscape in Turkey, a development of which the West remained totally oblivious.

Sarajevo derives from Caravan Sarai, pointing to the city’s Ottoman past. The effect of the Bosnian tragedy on the Turkish electorate brought to power Necmettin Erbakan of the Refah party, akin to the Muslim Brotherhood. This was anathema to the upholders of Turkey’s secular Kemalist constitution. The Erbakan government was dismissed.

That is when two of Erbakan’s protégés, Tayyip Erdogan and Abdullah Gul, reinvented themselves as the (AKP) justice and Development Party. The rest is recent history.

The siege of Sarajevo was graphically chronicled by a daily newspaper, Oslobodenje, which won global awards for its bravery. The paper’s office itself was an astounding sight. The offices and the press were in a huge basement, beneath the debris of a multistoreyed building brought down during the war. The editor, Kemal Kurspahic, whom I had met at the last Non-Aligned Summit attended by Rajiv Gandhi in Belgrade, looked none the worse for his travails. But he had, nevertheless, developed a mark on his forehead. This happens when the forehead hits the ground for “namaz” (Muslim prayers) five times a day over months and years.

“Have you become a devout Muslim?” I asked.

“There is no alternative but God when the world abandons you.” There was conviction in his voice.

“Who helped you publish the paper in these circumstances?”

His reply stunned me. “George Soros.”

Throughout the four-year conflict Europe maintained a hands-off policy to avoid internal divisions within EU. Observers like Salman Rushdie described European restraint as hypocritical.

“You reverse the religious affiliations of the protagonists on the ground and not just NATO but even European forces would have entered the theatre immediately to end the bloodbath.” They refrained from intervention because Muslims were the victims.

Those of us involved in covering the conflict knew that Rushdie, and others like him, were speaking the truth. But the mainstream narrative was fudged even on such crimes as the Srebrenica massacres in which 8,000 young Bosnian men were separated from their families and shot dead by Serb militias. Why did the Dutch peacekeeping forces move away from the site of the massacre?

The 78-day US bombing of Serbia during the Kosovo war was designed to oust the Serbian dictator, Slobodan Milosevic. Russians had been outmaneuvered by the Western alliance in a theatre Moscow considered its pan Slavic sphere of influence. Therefore when the responsibility of various part of Kosovo was being distributed between countries of Europe, Russian armoured carriers barged into the area around Pristine airport uninvited. They are still in occupation of that airport. Britain, Germany, France control other segments of Kosovo, a tiny country dotted with exquisite monasteries. The great monastery of Decan in the care of the Italians where priests produce the world’s finest wines and schnapps.

Just as the sun sets, a young priest runs around the building carrying on his shoulder a giant rattle called the tallantone, alerting the inmates just in case the “Turk invader” has eyes on the “House of God”. This hostile mythology is sustained in many countries on the periphery of what was once the Ottoman Empire.

Considering that this World Cup has been a celebration of multiculturalism, how do I explain my being distracted into Balkan tribalism? How swiftly a nation of 4.5 million has made its mark, wrenching itself away from a recent and messy past. Supposing Sefik Ibrahimovic had not migrated from Bosnia to Sweden in 1977 where the great soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic was born? Well, Zlatan could have claimed a slot in the Croatian team with considerable justification. His mother, Jurka Gravic, is after all a Croat. Remember, there was multiculturism in the Balkans too before sectarian tribalism was let loose.

India’s Hima Das created history by winning the gold medal in the women’s 400 metre event at the IAAF World U20 Championships here on Thursday.

Hima registered a time of 51.46 seconds in the final at the Ratina Stadium to become the first Indian athlete to win gold in a world championship across all age groups.

Andrea Miklos of Romania took silver with a personal best time of 52.07 seconds. Taylor Manson of the US registered 52.28 seconds to finish third.

Hima had done well in the earlier rounds as well, winning Heat 4 with a time of 52.25 seconds. She emerged on top in the semi-finals as well, winning her race in 52.10 seconds.

Jisna Matthew, the other Indian in the fray, also showed early promise, winning Heat 5 with a time of 54.32 seconds. But the Kerala girl crashed out in the semi-finals, where she finished fifth with 53.86 seconds.

After a convincing victory in the first One-Day International (ODI), India will aim to seal the three-match series with another win when they face hosts England in the second match here on Saturday.

In the first match, a maiden fifer for chinaman Kuldeep Yadav (6/25) followed by Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 137-run knock sealed a comfortable eight-wicket victory for India.

The visitors dominated England, the No. 1 ODI side, in all departments of the game and took a crucial 1-0 lead in the series with 59 balls to spare.

The stars of the match were Kuldeep and Rohit, who thrashed hosts batsmen and bowlers through out the match.

The batting department seemed settled with opener Shikhar Dhawan coming in form. The Delhi batsman played 27 balls and scored 40 runs, which includes eight boundaries.

Skipper Virat Kohli also showed why he is called one of the best batsmen in the format. India’s routine chasers Kohli and his in-form deputy Rohit collaborated for a 167-run stand to break the hopes of English bowers.

But the middle and lower-order is yet to be tested but the way English bowlers were playing it seemed an uphill task to reach India’s middle and lower order.

In the bowling department, Kuldeep continued to remain headache for English batsmen. In the shortest format also and now in 50-overs game.

Kuldeep scalped six wickets for just 25 runs. He was well supported by pacer Umesh Yadav but the pacer was little expensive.

The only concern for India is the pacers. Umesh, Hardik Pandya, debutant Siddharth Kaul were not effective as they leaked few runs when spinners, Kuldeep, Yuzvendra Chahal trying to put pressure on English batsmen.

England, on the other hand, had many things to work on. Their batsmen failed to click in unison. If top-order clicks middle and lower order fails. Joe Root continued his poor shot selection in the first match also while skipper Eoin Morgan failed to utilise the start.

The bowling department also seemed to be struggling as no bowlers were able to put pressure on India bstamen. Mark Wood, David Willy, experienced Liam Plunkett and Ben stokes need to click this time in order to take the series to the third match.

So its a do-or-die game for the English players as one more loss and they are out of contention.

Squads:
ndia- Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni (Wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shreyas Iyer, Siddarth Kaul, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

England- Eoin Morgan (Captain), Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (Wicket-keeper), Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Jake Ball, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Mark Wood

FIFA has confirmed that all the dope tests carried out before and during the 2018 World Cup finals have returned negative.

The testing programme was the “largest ever conducted for a FIFA World Cup,” with a preliminary testing pool of 1,500 players who were thought to be candidates to represent their countries this summer. The regular tests were carried out and complimented by FIFA’s “use of the athlete biological passport programme,” in order “to detect potential deviations that may indicate an abuse of performance-enhancing drugs, reports Xinhua news agency.

FIFA explained every player who took part in the World Cup “was tested in unannounced controls before the competition and further systematic tests have been performed during it, both with post-match controls and on non-matchdays,” and that 90 percent of tests were “targeted.”

The targeting was “based on a number of criteria, including the recommendations of the Athlete Passport Management Unit, potential injuries suffered by the players, performance data and the athletes’ test history.”

Since January 2018, a total of 2,037 tests have been carried out to produce a total of 3,985, blood, urine and serum samples: 2,761 of those samples were collected directly by FIFA in unannounced controls before the World Cup kicked off and 626 were collected during the tournament.

Every player from the last four teams tested an average of 4.41 times since the start of 2018 and some have undergone 8 tests.

All of the samples will now be guarded for 10 years.

England’s central midfielder Jordan Henderson and striker Jamie Vardy on Tuesday attended the English squad’s last training session prior to their crucial semifinal match against Croatia in the FIFA world cup 2018

Henderson, the Liverpool City captain and midfielder, who injured his hamstring during the quarter-final match against Sweden, has recovered enough to play on England’s starting-eleven formation versus Croatia’s Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, reports Efe.

On the other hand, Leicester City striker, Vardy, who has now recovered from a groin injury suffered during the round-of-16 match versus Colombia, will probably watch the kick-off from the sidelines, on the bench, unless England’s manager Gareth Southgate requires him to jump onto the playing field. Vardy tweeted his followers a brief: “Good to be back training with the lads.”

In line with the “Three Lions” tradition, the final training session before the match took place at their Zelenogorsk headquarters, a small town located 50 km North of Saint Petersburg.

The training session was characterized by a good deal of players’ laughter and banter as England’s team faces its first semifinal in 28 years. England had won the world cup 52 years ago, in 1966.

The English team will travel to Moscow after lunch and remain at Luzhniki stadium.

(IANS)

Top-order batsman Lokesh Rahuls scores of 70, 101 not out, six and 19 have made him India’s highest-ranked batsman in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) as he moved up nine places to a career-high third position in the ICC rankings.

Opener Rohit Sharma in 11th rank (up by two places) and captain Virat Kohli in 12th rank (down by four places) are the next highest-ranked India batsmen.

Meanwhile, Australia opener Aaron Finch became the first player in the history of T20Is to break the 900-point mark as he moved up three places to finish the tri-series in Harare against Pakistan and Zimbabwe as the top-ranked batsman in the shortest format of the game.

Finch, who captained Australia to the final, had touched the 900-point mark following his record-breaking knock of 172 (76b, 10×6, 16×4) against Zimbabwe in Harare on July 3.

The 31-year-old from Victoria eventually finished the T20Is (also comprising a one-off against England at Edgbaston) in number-one position on 891 points.

Finch had started the T20Is in fourth position on 763 points and a tour aggregate of 391 runs not only helped him leapfrog Babar Azam, Colin Munro and Glen Maxwell, but also earned him 128 points.

In the latest player rankings, which also takes into account India’s 2-0 and 2-1 series win against Ireland and England, respectively, Finch leads Pakistan’s left-handed opener Fakhar Zaman by 45 points.

Like Finch, Fakhar was in stellar form in Harare, when he totaled 278 runs in the series, including a match-winning 91 against Australia after Pakistan had slumped to two for two after being set a victory target of 184.

Fakhar’s string of good scores, that also included knocks of 61, six, 47 and 73, have helped him vault 44 places to claim second position. He has now become Pakistan’s highest-ranked batsman after Babar Azam slipped from first to fifth due to his absence because of an injury.

Australia’s D’Arcy Short, Jason Roy of England and Solomon Mire have also achieved career-best rankings following the latest update.

Short has broken into the top-10 for the first time in his career in 10th position, moving up 18 places. Roy has gained 19 places and is now in 15th spot, while Mire has rocketed 202 places to claim 25th position – seven places behind Hamilton Masakadza.

In the bowling table, Rashid Khan of Afghanistan and Shadab Khan of Pakistan have retained the top two positions, but there have been a number of movements down the order with Australia’s Andrew Tye and Billy Stanlake, and England’s trio of Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett and David Willey achieving career-high rankings.

Tye has risen 41 places to seventh in the latest rankings after taking 12 wickets in Harare, Rashid has claimed ninth position after moving up four places, Plunkett has gained 14 places and is now in 11th spot, Willey has risen 12 places to 15th and Stanlake’s seven wickets have given him a leap of 60 places that has put him in 19th position.

Other bowlers to head in the right direction include Mohammad Amir (12th, up by six places), Hardik Pandya (29th, up by five places), Mohammad Nawaz (32nd, up by nine places), Faheem Ashraf (33rd, up by 21 places), Kuldeep Yadav (34th, up by 41 places) and Ashton Agar (45th, up by 39 places).

There is no change in the top three all-rounders, with Maxwell leading the field. Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi is second, while Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh is third.

Meanwhile, in the ICC T20I Team Rankings, Pakistan have retained the top position with their tri-series victory while India have overtaken Australia to take second place after clinching their three-match series against England 2-1.

The top three sides are now separated by 10 points, while three points separate fourth-ranked England and seventh-ranked West Indies.

Team rankings remain crucial as Australia plus the next nine highest-ranked sides will qualify directly for the 16-team ICC Men’s World T20 2020 in Australia.

The remaining six sides will qualify from the 14-team ICC Men’s World T20 Qualifier 2019, which will be participated in by the six sides from the ICC World T20 2016, which are not in the Top 10 of the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings as on 31 December 2018, alongside the eight qualifiers from the regional finals.

India rode on Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten century and Hardik Pandya’s four-wicket haul to breeze past England by seven wickets at the County Ground on Sunday to clinch the three-match T20I series 2-1

Chasing 199 for victory, Rohit remained not out on 100 off 56 balls, and including 11 fours and five sixes. This was the right-hander’s third century in the game’s shortest format, making him just the second player to make three tons.

Put in, England posted 198/9 despite making a blistering start thanks to medium pacer Pandya’s heroics with the ball. The 24-year-old returned career-best figures of 4/38. In reply, India made 201/3 in 18.4 overs.

Pandya also played an unbeaten 14-ball 33-run cameo as skipper Virat Kohli (43; 29b; 2×4, 2×6) missed out on a half-century.

This was India’s sixth successive T20I series win. Rohit looked at his imperious best from the get-go, even though Shikhar Dhawan’s lean patch continued at the other end as the left-hander flicked a poor David Willey (1/37) delivery down the leg side to Jake Ball (1/39) at short fine leg.

However, there was no stopping Rohit as India raced to 56/1 inside five overs but a brilliant catch by Chris Jordan, running from long-on and diving full length, brought an end to K.L. Rahul’s (19; 10b; 1×4, 2×6) innings off a Ball delivery.

Kohli and Rohit then took India to 100/2 in 10 overs and were on course for a win with a 89-run stand for the third wicket.

Jordan gave England a ray of hope when things looked dim for the hosts by picking up Kohli’s wicket with a sharp catch off his own bowling.

With India still needing 48 runs for victory and five overs remaining, Pandya was promoted up the order. He smashed Willey for a six and two fours in the 18th over to take India to within touching distance of the target.

Rohit, in the next over, completed his hundred by dabbing the ball towards backward point while Pandya hit Jordan for a six to guide India over the line.

Earlier, it was Pandya who hauled the visitors back into the game after openers Jos Buttler (34; 21b; 7×4) and Roy gave England a flying start.

Hardik returned with career best bowling figures (4/38) but England posted a challenging 198/9.

Pandya bowled 11 dot balls in the middle overs and accounted for the wickets of Alex Hales (30; 24b; 3×4; 2×6), skipper Eoin Morgan (6), comeback man Ben Stokes (14) and Jonny Bairstow (25; 14b, 2×4, 2×6).

Giving 22 runs in his first over with England’s top-scorer Jason Roy (67; 31b; 4×4, 7×6) taking him to the cleaners, the all-rounder came roaring back to first remove Morgan and Hales in the same over and then repeating the same in the 18th over to send Stokes and Bairstow back on his fourth and sixth delivery.

Veteran M.S. Dhoni was also at his best behind the stumps, taking five catches and effecting one brilliant run out in the last ball of England’s innings to get Jordan’s wicket. Dhoni became the first glovesman to take five catches in a T20I, while also becoming the first man behind the stumps to pocket 50 catches in this format.

Buttler and Roy scored 73/0 in six overs with both in-form batters smacking 10 fours and four sixes in the process.

Deepak Chahar (1/43) — making his international debut in place of injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar — did not start off well, going for 13 runs with Buttler hitting him for three fours.

The 27-year-old Roy hit the first six of the match in the fourth over, a princely down the ground shot at long off before tonking Siddharth Kaul (2/35) for another maximum in the next over to show his intent.

To make matters worse, Buttler was dropped by Yuzvendra Chahal (0/30) just after Powerplay although it was a difficult chance.

In the next ball, Roy brought up his fifty in style, slapping Chahal for a six over long-on.

Kaul finally ended the carnage by rattling the stumps as Buttler tried to swipe across the line. Roy and Buttler stitched together 94-run partnership for the first wicket.

Chahar then got his first international scalp with a slower delivery that the dangerous Roy flicked to Dhoni behind the stumps.

At the halfway stage, England were 111/2 but Pandya then dented England’s surge as Morgan top-edged a back of a length delivery which Dhoni smothered, clattering the stumps in his follow through, and Hales was caught behind.

Later, Stokes holed out to Kohli at mid off and once again in the same over Bairstow, who was looking good after smacking two fours and sixes, nicked a half volley to the keeper.

The rest of the batsmen could not take England past the 200-mark but still posted a more than par total.

Brief scores: India 201/3 in 18.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 100 not out, Virat Kohli 43) beat England 198/9 in 20 overs (Jason Roy 67, Jos Buttler 34; Hardik Pandya 4/38, Siddharth Kaul 2/35).

Goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh will lead the 18-member Indian Men’s Hockey Team at the 18th Asian Games, slated to be held in Jakarta and Palembang from August 18, Hockey India announced on Monday.

Midfielder Chinglensana Singh Kangujam has been named the Vice Captain for the tournament and he will be joined by the experienced Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad in the midfield.

India’s forward line will see Akashdeep Singh return to the squad. Experienced S.V. Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Dilpreet Singh have been included in the squad.

The team’s defence will be strengthened with the return of experienced drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh who was rested for the Champions Trophy.

The backline will also see three other drag-flickers Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar and Amit Rohidas apart from the experienced Surender Kumar and Birendra Lakra.

Speaking about the team composition, Chief Coach Harendra Singh said: “We have a great mix of players who have shown their abilities in the recent tournaments. It is unfortunate we will be missing out on Ramandeep Singh’s experience as he is ruled out of the Asian Games due to a recent knee surgery he underwent.”

“But it is good to have Akashdeep Singh back in the mix. Both Rupinder and Akashdeep have remained in camp when the team was away in Breda and have had good match practice against Bangladesh over the past week and are raring to go,” he added.

India Squad:

Goalkeepers- 1. PR Sreejesh (Captain) 2. Krishan B Pathak

Defenders- 3. Harmanpreet Singh 4. Varun Kumar 5. Birendra Lakra 6. Surender Kumar 7. Rupinder Pal Singh 8. Amit Rohidas

Midfielders- 9. Manpreet Singh 10. Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (Vice-Captain) 11. Simranjeet Singh 12. Sardar Singh 13. Vivek Sagar Prasad

Forwards – 14. S V Sunil 15. Mandeep Singh 16. Akashdeep Singh 17. Lalit Kumar Upadhyay 18. Dilpreet Singh

Jeb Hockin, an 18-year-old from rural Australia, has become a double world record holder, demonstrating some truly incredible talents with a football.

Hockin set two Guinness world records for a “rabona” style kick, first for hitting the crossbar seven times in a minute, and then scoring a goal from 60 meters on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The “rabona” kick is “where you put your strong leg, behind your weak leg and kick the ball,” Hockin explained.

The teen also became internet famous last week with his “trick shot” videos being shared on the fans’ pages of Manchester United and Real Madrid that have millions of followers.

Australia’s lead goal scorer and former English Premier League and Chinese Super League player, Tim Cahill shared his admiration for Hockin in a video, saying “I’ve supported you from the start and it’s great to see you flourish.”

Hockin will keep kicking and attempting more records, but for now he is proud of what he has accomplished after a decade of practice.

“You start from basically nothing and you build up to all these crazy things,” Hockin said.

“It just goes to show anything is possible,” he added.