Sultan swings back,gets ‘cleared’ by Dalmiya

The Trinamool minister is in New Delhi,and his case was cleared here this evening by CAB president Dalmiya after Ariadaha Club’s senior representative Tushar Sarkar went over to the Eden Gardens office and apologised for the blooper.

The Maidan heavyweight gifted his traditional Mohammedan Sporting ticket to Sourav Ganguly for this year’s AGM,and Ahmed himself sought to attend the summit on behalf of Aridaha Club.

After the routine scrutiny session conducted by CAB president Dalmiya and joint-secretary Biswarup Dey two days back,the CAB administration had declared that Ahmed’s representation bid was defective. The nomination form apparently didn’t have the club’s seal and address,without which the submitted form can be rendered defective.

However,after hearing out Ariadaha Club’s Tushar Sarkar this evening,Dalmiya cleared the air,announcing that the CAB administration has no problems with Ahmed’s representation to the AGM.

It is learnt that Sarkar,faced with a barrage of tough questions,apologised to the CAB officials for the blunder and requested them to reconsider the case and allow Ahmed to attend the July 31 summit.

While Dalmiya’s detractors in the Maidan welcomed the experienced cricket administrator’s move to allow Ahmed to attend the AGM,a section of the Bengal cricket community is seeing today’s U-turn by the Dalmiya faction as a diplomatic olive branch extended towards a minister who is set to call the shots in Bengal’s sports politics in the coming years.

When Dalmiya was bowled over by a Shailen Manna freekick
Not often do you see Jagmohan Dalmiya coming to a football ground. Wednesday was an exception. The Cricket Association Bengal president took a detour to drop in at the Mohun Bagan ground on the occasion of Mohun Bagan Day.

“I was a Mohun Bagan supporter and used to come here frequently when I was young. I can still remember a match in which Bagan were trailing 0-2 but rallied to finish with a 2-2 draw. Mannada (Shailen Manna) scored from a 30-yard freekick,then Badruda (Samar Banerjee) equalised,” Dalmiya reminisced.

Badru hits out at AIFF
Samar (Badru) Banerjee took a swipe at the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for not fulfilling its “promise” to introduce pension for ex-national team players. “AIFF secretary (Alberto) Colaco promised me that pension for all ex-national team players would be introduced. He also sent me a letter in this regard. It was long time back. Nothing has been done yet,” Banerjee said on the sidelines of the Mohun Bagan Day celebrations at the club ground on Wednesday. Banerjee was awarded with the Mohun Bagan Ratna.