JAKARTA: In production, there is a terminology called ‘Last In, First Out (LIFO)’. The dictionary definition of it is ‘... a method of controlling stock, in which the last products or materials that are produced or bought are the first that are sold or used.’
This principle can also be applied in the field of sports as the Indian men’s handball team, one of the last teams to be cleared, showed at the ongoing Asian Games. As the 16 athletes of the handball contingent waved to the crowd during the Opening Ceremony, they did so with mixed feelings.
Their games were over even before it had begun. Played three. Lost three. Goals for: 82. Goals against: 102. Out of contention to even finish in the top eight.
The Handball Federation of India (HFI) managed to win a court case to send their squad but winning a meaningful match proved beyond them. Their toothless displays on the court vindicated the IOA’s original decision to not send them before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court intervened. Their last group match against Iraq at the POPKI Sport Hall on Friday was a painful watch.
While their opponents looked like a proper outfit, their Indian counterparts played like a bunch of overgrown school kids who had won a raffle to wear the team India jersey.
There was no cohesion or rhythm to their passing and movement. In fact, India lost possession a number of times because their players were deemed ‘walking’ (taking three steps without dribbling or holding on to the ball for more than three seconds without bouncing it) by the referee. A failure to even execute the most basic of the sport’s rules.
After the match, captain Deepak Ahlawat spoke like an Indian cricketer after a disastrous foreign tour. “We play on mud while other teams play in indoor arenas all through the year,” he said.
“I can bet they can’t beat us on India’s mud grounds. We currently don’t enjoy the facilities these guys enjoy. On a level playing field, we would be a better side.”
That excuse did not wash because Ahlawat, in the same sentence, said the team had ‘come prepared’. “No, the court case wasn’t a distraction,” he said.
“We just concentrated on our own training and it was independent of Jakarta. Whether we had made it to the Games or not we were prepared (as a side).” Curiously enough, the side will leave later than the flagbearer at the opening ceremony, Neeraj Chopra.
While the 20-year-old tyro will leave a few short hours after his javelin final on August 27, Ahlawat & Co. will stick around till the end of the month to take part in classification matches. Currently 13th and last, they will face Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Chinese Taipei to decide the bottom five spots. A classic case of a pyrrhic victory.