The sports ministry on Friday formalised its tough new policy on not allowing athletes without Indian passports to represent the country in international sporting events. The decision has left several players who have represented India in the past — notably tennis players Prakash Amritraj, Shikha Uberoi and Sunitha Rao — with some difficult decisions to make.According to a press release issued by the ministry, “The Government has decided that, henceforth, players who are Indian citizens only can avail themselves of government assistance to represent the country in the national teams representing the country. This will also be applicable in the consideration of proposals for the participation of national teams in international sports events.”While there was ambiguity initially about whether the announcement would only cut funding of players who weren’t full Indian citizens, sports secretary Sudhir Nath confirmed to The Indian Express: “Those who don’t have Indian passports will not be allowed to play under the Indian banner. For example in tennis, players who hold foreign passports can play in whatever ATP or WTA events take place in the country, but not competitions like the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Commonwealth Games etc. The funding that is currently being provided for the 2010 Commonwealth Games probables will not be given to them either.”Unnecessary, says IOACriticising the new policy, the secretary general of the Indian Olympic Association, Randhir Singh, said the government move was “unnecessary”. “There are rules laid down by the OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) or the International Olympic Committee. As long as these rules allow any sportsperson of Indian origin in the Asian Games or Commonwealth Games or the Olympics, where is the issue? The government is unnecessarily creating an issue,” he said. “Other countries are trying to attract sportspersons of their origin to represent them and here why are we discouraging people of Indian origin to represent the country? It is wrong and the government should have a re-look.”But the sports ministry, in their release, said they had considered three main points before arriving at a decision — “whether a person who is not a citizen of India should be allowed to carry the flag of India or walk under it and represent the country in any national/international sports events”, “whether local talent should be given overriding preference in terms of talent scouting, nurturing and training,” and “whether it is appropriate that slots available to represent India may be taken up by non-citizens.”Tennis worryThe sport most affected by the decision at this time is tennis, as Davis Cupper Prakash Amritraj and Fed Cup players Sunitha Rao and Shikha Uberoi hold American passports. While Shikha had said on Thursday that she had no problem in surrendering her American passport, Prakash, when contacted on Friday, declined to comment. The way out for all players appears to be simple — surrender the current passport, and get an Indian one. But the decision will mean giving up the privileges that come with their US citizenship.In a muted appeal to the government to reconsider, the All India Tennis Association’s secretary-general Anil Khanna said in a release: “We have three players who will be affected by such an order. The new policy has been discussed and the sports minister has agreed to have a re-look at the participation rights, if a possibility exists for dual citizenships for players. In case a player is willing to change his passport he/she will obviously not be in any difficulty in representing India in Fed Cup and Davis Cup.”Bringing the Prakash issue into focus, former player Naresh Kumar — a Davis Cupper from 1952 to 1960 and the non-playing captain of the team during one of its best phases in the early 90s — said the decision would be more important for Prakash personally than for Indian tennis.“Prakash is certainly the most important player affected. He’s been a main part of the Davis Cup team for some time. If he decides against following the guideline, it’ll be a loss for the Davis Cup team, but not a big one. We have a good player in Somdev Devvarman to replace him,” Kumar said.“But giving up a Davis Cup place will be a loss for Prakash. Being an active Davis Cupper is a big deal, and that is what he has been enjoying all these years in the US.”
