OCA warns India of penalty
New Delhi: In an embarrassment to India, the country has been warned of heavy penalty by Olympic Council of Asia if it withdraws from sending teams in a few disciplines in the upcoming Asian Games, a development which led to the IOA slamming some government officials for “ruining sport”. The Indian Olympic Association received an e-mail from the OCA on August 29, which warned IOA of penalty if it withdraws from some sporting disciplines, including football and table tennis, for the September 19-October 4 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. “We have received news that the Sports Authority of India may be forcing the India NOC to withdraw from Football, Basketball, Handball, Table Tennis, and Sepak takraw in the 17th Asian Games,” the letter from the OCA said. “The team draw has already been completed. As per the constitution, if the IOA withdraws now, a penalty will definitely be levied and the whole draw will need to be done again,” OCA Director of International and NOC Relations Vinod Kumar Tiwari wrote in a mail, sent to top IOA officials. Calling the development as an embarrassment to the country, IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta said that a few officials in the Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India were ruining sport in the country. “I don’t blame the whole sports ministry and I don’t blame the sports minister. Two-three officials in the ministry and the SAI are ruining Indian sport by trying to interfere in the working of IOA and national federations,” Mehta told PTI.
Boxing nationals in nov: ioa body
New Delhi: The IOA-appointed ad-hoc committee, currently overseeing some affairs of Indian boxing, today fixed the Senior National Championships for both men and women in November even as state units voiced their concerns about the upcoming elections to constitute a new federation. The six-member committee, headed by veteran administrator Tarlochan Singh, on Thursday met representatives from 19 state units and discussed the conduct of National Championships, which have not been held for two years. “The men’s Championships will be held in the first week of November in Uttarakhand and the women’s Championships will be in Delhi in the last week of the same month,” committee’s convener Rakesh Gupta told PTI. “Once a new federation takes shape after elections, the dates will also be worked out,” he added. The other issue discussed in the meeting was increasing the weight categories for women boxers in the National Games. “Even though Olympics and Asian Games allows for only three weight categories for women but we have requested that all 10 women’s categories be included in the roster for National Games,” said Gupta. Expectedly, some concerns were also voiced about the September 11 elections to form a new federation even though Gupta denied this. The polls are being conducted by the International Boxing Association-recognised Boxing India but have been mired in controversies as some state units have accused BI of manipulation. “The units attending the meeting did bring this up and demanded that IOA oversee the whole process but Mr Gupta told us that it was not in the IOA’s hands as of now. Obviously, there are a lot of concerns about how everything is being managed,” an official from one of the attending state units told PTI.
Sindhu back in top-10
New Delhi: Owing to her bronze medal finish at the recently-concluded World Championships, India’s top shuttler P V Sindhu has re-entered the top-10 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings, released on Thursday. While 19-year-old Sindhu has climbed up two places to be at number 10 position in the women’s singles list while Saina Nehwal remained the top-ranked Indian player at No 7. In men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth has moved up a place to be the highest ranked men’s singles Indian shuttler at number 22 position. He made till the third round at the World Championships. However, Parupalli Kashyap, who bowed out of the World Championships in the first round of the men’s singles event, has dropped a place to be at number 28. In women’s doubles, the pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa have managed to maintain their 21st spot in the list.
6 Indian coaches with grapplers
New Delhi: Six Indian coaches are set to travel with the 24-member wrestling team which will be leave for Tashkent, Uzbekistan tomorrow to compete in the FIlA World Championships to be held from September 8-14. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar today said that reports that no Indian coach would be a part of the support staff at the World Championships were untrue. “As many as six Indian coaches, besides three foreign coaches will be accompanying the team at the upcoming World Championships,” Tomar told PTI. While Sujit Mann and Anil Kumar will be the Indian coaches in men’s freestyle, the mentors in Greco-Roman category would be Satish Rana and S N Singh. Sahil Sharma and Ramani Chanu will be taking care of the women’s team.
First batch of athletes leave
New Delhi: The first batch of the Indian contingent for the upcoming Asian Games left today with seven track athletes heading for Incheon in advance to acclimatise with the conditions there. Seven athletes — Sudha Singh (3000m steeplechase), Preeja Sreedharan (5000m and 10,000m), O P Jaisha (1500m and 5000m), lalita Babbar (3000m steeplechase), Suresh Kumar and Rahul Kumar Pal (both in 10,000m) and Sushma Devi (800m) — are leaving for Incheon for the final phase of preparation for the Games, starting on September 19. The athletics events begin on September 27. The contingent under Belarusian coach Nikolai Snesareva includes six long distance runners and one middle distance runner in Sushma. The team will also be accompanied by Anzhelika Snesareva as masseur. “I am confident that all the athletes will clock their best performances at the Asian Games. During my previous tenure, I had spent almost five years in preparation for 2010 Asian Games. This time, I did not have that luxury but we have made the best utilisation of the camp. We received help from several quarters, including people from Ooty where the athletes trained,” Nikolai said.
Pak investigates Shahzad spat
Karachi: Pakistan on Thursday said it has set up a committee to look into a religious spat between their opener Ahmed Shahzad and Sri lankan counterpart Tillakaratne Dilshan last month. Television footage showed Shahzad passing a religious remark at Dilshan. Shahzad can be heard on camera saying to Dilshan: “If you are a non-Muslim and you turn Muslim, no matter whatever you do in your life, straight to heaven.”