Shabby treatment of Jahangir is appalling

I have been closely associated with two games, cricket and squash and it has been my good fortune, indeed a privilege, that I count among my friends, two of the greatest players of these two games, Imran Khan and Jahangir Khan. Age-difference between them and me does not make them my buddies but I have a special affection for them.

I have watched them grow from cubs to tigers, each a credit to the game they have played with such distinction and each has brought honor to the country. They both are sports icons but also happen to be very decent people.

I am more in touch with Imran than Jehangir and was, therefore, a little surprised when Jahangir telephoned me last week and said he wanted to see me. There was an urgency in his tone and he sounded distressed. I told him to come over right away.

Jahangir Khan had been General Manager (Sports) of the Pakistan International Airlines. He had gone for Umra and on his return discovered that he had been removed as General Manager (Sports). It came as a considerable shock to him. No reasons have been given for this abrupt change.

Jahangir seemed more hurt than angry and told me that he may leave the country to take up one among several offers he gets from time to time and which in the past, he had declined. I told him that there was nothing I could do as it was an administrative matter within PIA and I did not have any links with the airline. But I was appalled that someone of his stature should have been treated in such a shabby way.

Earlier this year, in a glittering ceremony organized by PIA and attended by a galaxy of sports personalities, both Pakistani and foreign, Jahangir had been honored as the Sportsman of the Millennium. The PIA sports department is housed in its squash complex which is named after Jahangir Khan. The supreme irony is that he now does not even have office-space in a complex named after him, literally becoming a lodger in his own home.

I do not know the reasons that compelled PIA to 'sack' Jahangir Khan but I would have thought that, if indeed the change was considered necessary, Jahangir should have been called in and told about the change and told the reasons.

This is the least he was entitled to, a man who has brought so much glory to Pakistan and who has served the airline diligently for over 20 years and had given it world-wide publicity.

This is no way to treat someone who is a champion in every sense of the word, a sentiment shared by Imran Khan when I spoke to him on the telephone on another matter and mentioned Jahangir's plight. But it seems to be open season on sportsmen, particularly cricketers who have been put through a wringer and stripped of their dignity. I do not know the reasons why Azharuddin and Jadeja have been dropped from the Indian team for the ICC knock-out tournament in Nairobi. Surely not for cricket reasons?

Are we to infer that the selectors have decided on their own on matchfixing even before the CBI has completed its investigations? And till the writing of this column, the fate of Kapil Dev is not known.

Why is cricket shooting itself in the foot, particularly in the subcontinent? Why have we allowed something to drag on and on and turned it into a tamasha? If the players are guilty of wrong-doing, they should be punished but punished because they are guilty as determined by a court of law.

Not punished by dragging their names through innuendo and gossip and unproved accusations, punished by maligning them. What if the CBI should find that Azharuddin and Jadeja have no case to answer? Who will make up the damage to their reputations that has already been inflicted? Who will make up the damage to their reputations that has already been inflicted?

I think sportsmen deserve better. They do bring a lot of joy into our lives as well will see when the Olympic Games start in Sydney. To be sure, there will be an odd case of doping but we have to look at the bigger picture. I read somewhere that gambling has been legalized for the Olympics and if an athlete wants to have a flutter, he or she will not be breaking any law or code of conduct.

This suggests that this is an open invitation to the bookies but in a convoluted way, it is being realistic. I don't think anyone will throw a race or a game because they are in league with the bookies. If there is no trust, there is no point in holding the Olympic Games. I do not underestimate the power of money but neither do I underestimate the power of winning a Gold Medal for yourself and your country.

And finally, there is the swan-song of Curtly Ambrose. Surely he deserves a full column but he was given a standing ovation by the Oval crowd. He mustn't be too upset that he did not turn in a winning performance.

One other cricketer was given a standing ovation as he strode into bat for the last time in test cricket and coincidentally, it was at the Oval in 1948. The batsman was Don Bradman and he was bowled by Eric Hollies for a duck. That last appearance took nothing away from the greatness of the man. It only emphasized that he was human.

Ambrose bowled in his final test match with a calf-injury but England's batsmen still struggled against his relentless accuracy and his ability to get lift-off from the good length spot.

Not the West Indies alone but world cricket will miss Curtly Ambrose, a great bowler and an even greater character. In the present climate of cricket, it will come as a huge relief to him that he will be leaving the stage with honor and dignity, without a breath of scandal. Given the nature of the times, no ordinary achievement.