In faraway Greece, KPS has his fans

Minutes before the hockey match between India and Holland began on Sunday, the Indian team got off its bus and entered the stadium gates to ...

Minutes before the hockey match between India and Holland began on Sunday, the Indian team got off its bus and entered the stadium gates to thunderous cheering. Spectators on the first floor, and others just milling around, greeted Dhanraj Pillay and company with the sort of fervour usually reserved for Sachin Tendulkar.

Then something strange happened. Someone spotted an older man, clearly not a hockey player, walking nearby. One Indian nudged the second, and the second the third.

In minutes, a queue had formed to shake hands with K.P.S. Gill, the bemused IHF president who unexpectedly found himself among fans in Athens.

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Many of the Indians at the game were Punjabi, Greece being a traditional gateway for both legal and illegal migrants. They recognized Gill as the hero of the militancy war and obviously wanted a piece of him. A few Pakistanis hanging around — the Pakistan-Germany match had just ended — were mystified, probably wondering who the gent was.

THE PRICE OF A GOLD?

With its unerring gift for snatching criticism from the jaws of praise, the IOA has now found itself in yet another embarrassment. At the tennis stadium on Monday, C.G.K. Bhupathi, Mahesh’s father, spoke of how his efforts to get a ticket for himself or at least for Sweta Jayashankar — Mrs Mahesh — from the ‘‘family quota’’ proved futile. Requests to Suresh Kalmadi, IOA president, went unheeded.

Eventually, Bhupathi sr spent 120 euros on six tickets — for his wife and himself, for Sweta and Kavita (Mahesh’s sister), and for Sweta’s parents. ‘‘Six tickets would obviously have been too much’’, he said, ‘‘but surely the IOA could have got us one or two.’’

Sweta, a former model who now runs an event management company with Mahesh, was able to laugh it off. ‘‘Let’s hope’’, she gently ribbed her father-in-law, ‘‘we have to spend money buying tickets for the rest of the tournament.’’ With four rounds to victory, that’ll be 480 euros for a gold medal. Not a bad deal.

OLD SCHOOL TIES

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Julian Williams, a New York-based NBC cameraman, was waiting for Leander Paes at the press conference after today’s doubles match. It had been a long wait, 20 years in fact. In 1984, Williams and Paes were together in school at Calcutta’s La Martiniere when Williams’ Anglo-Indian family migrated to the US.

‘‘About four years ago’’, Williams said, ‘‘I was watching TV and just happened to see Leander playing a tennis match. I recognized him instantly, as the best athlete, the best runner and footballer from my class. We used to play together then.’’

The two sports buddies had lost touch but Williams chased Paes halfway across the world, almost, and finally caught with him in Athens. How does he remember Paes? ‘‘He was the biggest boy in my class, but he doesn’t seem to have grown much.’’

Ouch!