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BCCI has no govt sanction to represent India: Sports Min
MS Dhoni lauds Kohli’s captaincy
MS Dhoni is all praise for Virat Kohli. File photo |
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His (kp tHOMAS) claim of training Shiny Wilson, Anju Bobby George and Jincy Phillip needs to be scrutinized meticulously as it does not appear factual. It is critical that we also work to rise above the petty thinking of regional favouritism.
— GURBACHAN SINGH RANDHAWA, Chief selector, Athletics Federation of India
SAI pulls up athletics federation for Asian Youth Games goof-up
Victoria Azarenka exults after winning the title. — AFP
IBL: Saina rallies to beat Schenk
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BCCI has no govt sanction to represent India:
Chandigarh, August 19 “The International Cricket Council (ICC) recognizes BCCI as the apex National Federation responsible for promotion of cricket in India,” the minister said. “Therefore, the team selected by BCCI is considered as the Indian Team.” Singh was answering a question by DB Chandre Gowda, who had asked “whether the Government has given any authority to BCCI to represent India in International sports events”. Singh added that in 2010, the government had said that each National Sports Federation (NSF) receiving a grant of Rs 10 lakh or more per year from the government would be declared a Public Authority under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. Singh, in his reply in the Parliament, also said: “The Ministry only grants permission to BCCI from sports angle for participation of Indian cricket Teams in International events abroad and holding International cricket matches in India at no cost to the government subject to the clearance of Ministry of External Affairs from political angle and Ministry of Home Affairs from security angle.” Singh also said that the draft of the National Sports Development Bill is designed to bring all the NSFs and BCCI under the RTI Act. The BCCI will not want this, of course. To avoid scrutiny, the BCCI has claimed, even in courts, that it does not really have a “national side”. Nine years ago, the Delhi High Court was forced to observe that “… an inexplicable argument was advanced on behalf
of the BCCI that, in point of fact, the Indian team is not a national side in the sense of having the sanction of the Government, but a side picked by the BCCI amongst Indian players.” The Board of Control of Cricket hasn’t really changed. But the times have changed, and it is even more inexplicable, even unpardonable, for the BCCI to try to escape scrutiny with such laughable reasons. |
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MS Dhoni lauds Kohli’s captaincy
New Delhi, August 19 “Kohli is a fantastic cricketer. He has great knowledge about the game, and has done well as captain. He is very expressive on the field, and he has all the right recipes”, Dhoni observed at a promotional event. The Indian captainfelt that all forms of the game were important. “They are all inter-related. Performance in one will have an impact on the other form,” said the captain, who has excelled as captain in all three formats of the game —Tests, ODIs and T20. He also gave out fresh hope for some of the India discards like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh etc. of getting back into the national team, as he felt that they could stage a comeback if they were fit and ready. He said the main focus of the team would be on the visit of Australia to India later this year. Dhoni said age was just a number in the case of the senior players“but form and fitness was crucial for the success of any cricketer”. Dhoni said he was not sure whether India would be playing two Tests or more during their visit to South Africa at the end of the year. Dhoni also steered clear of naming his “dream team” as Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly had recently done. |
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Randhawa calls Thomas’ bluff
New Delhi, August 19 Thomas has claimed that he had trained Anju Bobby George, Shiny Wilson and Jincy Phillip though he had never trained athletes at the national coaching camps, nor had he gone with the Indian team to any international athletics meet. Moreover, two former India coaches had claimed Shiny Wilson as “their own”, and had won the Dronacharya Awards based on such claims. Former chief national coach Joginder Singh Saini, in his long list of trainees, had included Shiny Wilson as one among them when he was awarded the Dronacharya honour in 1997. True, Saini, as the chief national coach for long, had trained many of the outstanding athletes of the Seventies and Eighties in the national camps. When coach Hargobind Singh won the Dronacharya Award in 1998, he had also mentioned Shiny Wilson as one of his star pupils! Anju Bobby George was “appropriated”, literally, by her husband Robert Bobby George when he was given the Dronacharya Award in 2003 . With the award committee and the Sports Ministry having no checks and balances in place to verify the truthfulness of such claims, anybody with clout can win the Dronacharya Award, and get away with the yarn they spin. But this time around, former Olympian and first Arjuna Awardee in athletics, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, who is also the chief selector of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), has dared to call the bluff of Thomas. In a letter to Secretary of Sports P.K.Deb, Randhawa has pointed out that K.P.Thomas had never been considered by the AFI to impart training at the national camps. “Hence, his claim of training Shiny Wilson, Anju Bobby George and Jincy Phillip needs to be scrutinized meticulously as it does not appear factual”. “K.P.Thomas might have contributed to the development of these athletes at the beginner-level before they advanced to an elite status under the proper coaching by Bobby George or Hargobind Singh, or the coaching imparted at the national camps”, Randhawa said. Randhawa wondered how many coaches could be given the Dronacharya Award for the winning-performance of one (same) individual athlete, and should the award be given to the coaches or the physical education instructors at schools, who spot such talent, and initiate athletes into their respective events, but are unable to take them to the next level of elite performance. “As Indian athletes and coaches are working diligently to improve their level of performance to match the world leaders, it is critical that we also work to rise above the petty thinking of regional favouritism and consider ourselves as integral part of one country rather than a particular region or state. It is widely believed that Sunny Thomas (member, selection committee and a former Dronacharya Award winner himself for shooting in 2001) with overwhelming support from the SAI left no stone unturned to ensure that KP Thomas is selected for the award this year”, Randhawa noted. |
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SAI pulls up athletics federation for Asian Youth
New Delhi, August 19 Squarely blaming the AFI for the shocking incident, SAI Director-General Jiji Thomson said that the government had spent around Rs. 10 lakh for the airfare of the disqualified athletes who are returning home from China. Only U-17 athletes — those born in January 1997 or later — were eligible to take part in the Asian Youth Games but the AFI included 18 athletes, who were born in 1996 in the track and field team of 27. “It’s a huge embarrassment. We will definitely seek an explanation from the AFI and will also recover the amount spent on their airfare, which is almost Rs. 10
lakhs,” Thomson said. “We will have to take them (AFI) to task, need to ask them why they did this? The chances of our athletes are gone,” he added. “This is exclusively the right of federation, prerogative of the federation to select the athletes and so they are bound to follow the rules.“In this case, the federation had selected the athletes and corresponded directly to the organising committee. Based on that visas were issued to them. We only arranged for their travel, that’s the only responsibility of the
SAI. They (AFI) should have observed the rules,” Thomson said. IOA acting chief Vijay Kumar Malhotra said, “I have asked the AFI to explain how this incident has happened. It has caused embarrassment to the country,” he said.“Since the IOA is under suspension, the AFI sent the list of athletes directly to Nanjing organisers but the OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) sent to me, saying that the IOA will have to do official clearing of the names of athletes. So I sent back the list to the OCA with necessary signature. “The AFI sent the list late also but the OCA decided to accept it,” he said.
— PTI AFI Prez clarifies
AFI president Adille Sumariwalla clarified that a confusion in the eligibility rules led to the selection of overage athletes. Sumariwalla said,"In this case we had to go by IAAF rules according to which athletes born post-1996 were eligible. Moreover, the organisers issued visas to the participants knowing fully well the age mentioned in their passports. But only after reaching there we came to know of the criteria applied by the organisers -- those born between 1997 to 1999 (i.e. 14 to 16 years of age in 2013) according to the rules set by Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
— PTI |
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Pandey’s four leave South Africa reeling
Rustenberg, August 19 Pandey bowled a tight line and length, giving away just 40 runs from his 16 over. He picked up crucial wickets, breaking both the partnerships which frustrated Indian camp. He dismissed Simon Harmer (22), Justin Ontong (47), Thami Tsolekile (47) and Wayne Parnell for a duck. JP Duminy, who held on to control the innings after the home team had a horrible start, got out in last over of the day at 84, falling to Suresh Raina (2/33). Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami and Shahbaz Nadeem ended the day with one wicket each. After the Indians declared at 582 for nine, South Africa A had a rocky start, losing openers Reeza Hendricks (10) and Dean Elgar (11) cheaply. South Africa A were struggling after losing five wickets in the first two sessions but Duminy combined with Tsolekile. Duminy and Tsolekile's fightback in the post-tea session, in which they raised a 86-run stand for the seventh wicket, prevented India from wrapping up the first innings of the hosts today itself. Before this, Duminy had raised another fighting 75-run stand for the sixth wicket with Justin Ontong, who scored 47 off 82 balls. The hosts are still 270 runs behind and they will have to bat through the day on Tuesday to save the match. Resuming at 20 for one, South Africa were straring down the barrel as they were reduced to 280 for six by tea but Duminy and Tsolekile presented a good fight against Indians in the last session. South Africa lost Duminy in the last over of the day when Raina had him caught behind. With his dismissal, the umpires ended the day's play.
— Agencies |
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Cincinnati: Rafa, Azarenka win in
contrasting style
Cincinnati, August 19 He won the title in Montreal a week ago and now has back-to-back hard-court championships for the first time in his illustrious career. He'd never even reached the finals in Cincinnati.It was his fifth Masters title of the season, a career best. Nadal is now tied with Novak Djokovic for most Masters titles in a season since 1990. He's won seven of the nine Masters events during his career. For two hours and 30 minutes, Azarenka and Williams engaged in a seesaw battle before the Belarusian finally clinched the victory, winning a nervy tiebreak 8-6 to prevent the American from ticking a Cincinnati win off her 'bucket list'. In a career that has generated 54 singles titles, including 16 grand slams, Williams had won just about everything there is to win in her sport - but not Cincinnati, one of the WTA Tour's most prestigious tournaments. Cincinnati will remain a hole on her resume for at least another year after Azarenka answered the challenge by claiming just her third win in 15 attempts against the 31-year-old American. Williams came into the contest with a chance to pass several career milestones beyond a first Cincinnati win.
— Reuters |
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IBL: Saina rallies to beat Schenk
Mumbai, August 19 Egged on by the partisan crowd chanting Saina Saina, the Indian world no. 4 downed world no 3 Schenk 17-21, 21-19, 11-6 in 59 minutes, after her teammate Ajay Jayram had shocked Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen in the first men's singles match 21-19, 21-8 in just 40 minutes at the NSCI Stadium.Saina trailed 5-7 and then 7-14 but the Indian narrowed the gap by sending the German rival to the base with quick flicks and then winning the point with drop or smash winners. The Indian ace narrowed the lead to 16-17 before her rival hit a purple patch in time and ran away with the opening game in 19 minutes when Saina hit the bird wide. In the second game, Saina tightened up her game but her rival level-pegged till 6 before the Indian upped the tempo and led 11-8.
— Agencies |
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MS Dhoni was modesty personified when he lauded the captaincy and leadership skills of Virat Kohli, who, like Dhoni, enjoys the challenge of leading from the front. Dhoni was not only impressed with Kohli’s captaincy, but also about his cricketing acumen.
But, he said, the BCCI has been refusing to declare itself a Public Authority, saying that it does not receive any financial grant from the government. The struggle to bring a semblance of accountability to the BCCI’s affairs continues. The BCCI is continuing to resist. It has gone to the Madras High Court and obtained a stay on the proceedings of the Central Information Commission (CIC), which had noticed the BCCI and its affiliates a notice in this regard.
