da wazamba： Anjum Chopra looks back at the sixth women’s World Cup
da leao： 11-Mar-2009
They’re out there somewhere: Chopra and Co. had to sit in the stands for the 1997 final, though they were special guests © Getty Images
1997, India
Anjum Chopra
We played the semi-final against Australia at Delhi’s Harbax Singh Stadium. There was no one to move the sightscreen, so with a right-hander andleft-hander batting, the Indian fielders had to run from mid-on or elsewhere to moveit for them.To make things worse, we were fined for slow over-rate and docked twoovers from our chase. After our loss, we were invited by the association to watchthe final between England and Australia at the Eden Gardens. But when we got to thegame, there were no pavilion seats kept for us, so we had to sit in the stands. Wewere told to come down to the presentation ceremony after the game but when we triedto make our way to the ground, we were stopped by security men who refused to let usthrough even when we told them we were members of the Indian team.The tournamentwas also scheduled poorly – with warm-ups in the warmer south and the World Cup matches inthe cold, foggy north. We spent a lot of our time waiting at airports or at grounds, andeven missed a day of practice because it took so long to get to where we werestaying. I can laugh at it now but back then it felt miserable to be in such asituation.