Tags:
Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, Sept 3: 8220;We have taken a step backward,8221; was how Suresh Kalmadi, chief of the Indian Olympic Association IOA, put it to describe the cricket team for the Commonwealth Games.
Though he refused to say whether or not the IOA was happy with the list of players forwarded to it by the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI, he made his point loud and clear when he said that 8220;the BCCI has managed to put up two best teams. BCCI is happy. So are we.8221;
Chef-de-mission of the contingent is BS Ojha.
Kalmadi, however, agreed but for IOA8217;s pressure, top players like Ajay Jadeja, Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Robin Singh Sr would not have figured in the list. He had a dig at BCCI. 8220;BCCI cannot say that it was committed to Sahara Cup. In fact, the Games schedule was available even before they had signed the deal with IMG. It could have tried to get the Sahara Cup September 12-20 postponed by a few days to avoid the entire controversy.8221;
Asked if the depletion of teams for both events Games aswell as Sahara Cup could lead to their losing both in Toronto and Kuala Lumpur, Kalmadi laughed it off by saying: 8220;That is a real possibility. But we wish both teams the best of luck!8221;
In all, there will be a total of 88 sportspersons, including 29 women, 27 officials and the chef-de-mission.
