Who sacked whom? Netball intrigue continues

Allegations are flying thick and fast between the two. According to Gurbir, Sharma wanted his son Rajeev to be inducted as the national coach but did not get his way. Gurbir also alleges that Sharma shot off messages to various Indian consulates telling them not to issue a visa to foreign coach Lourdes Jayasekara. In a show-cause notice, Gurbir has charged Sharma for “acting in a manner designed to sabotage the participation of the Indian team in the Asian Youth Championships at Hong Kong”. He has also asked Sharma to explain why he added a name to the list of players sent to the Sports Ministry, even though the selection committee had not picked her.

‘Autocratic’ selection

Sharma, on the other hand, accuses Gurbir of picking a player who had “never ever participated even in a state meet”. Sharma also alleges that Gurbir behaves in an autocratic manner. “Most members were unhappy and we decided to move a no-confidence motion with a 21-day notice as per the constitution. I have been against appointing the Sri Lankan coach because, with the money available from the ministry, we could have hired a better coach. If she was a competent coach, our results in Hong Kong should’ve been different. But we lost all our matches.” India lost to Thailand (24-56), Sri Lanka (28-83), Chinese Taipei (38-48), Malaysia (20-73) and Singapore (15-65) in the Hong Kong meet.

After the first round of fights, it seems president Gurbir may have “survived”, with the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) agreeing to deal with him directly after taking note of the division within the NFI. But Sharma alleges that Gurbir manipulated his way to get a letter from Sally Jarvis, the Global Development Manager of the IFNA, and says he will take up the issue with the Indian Olympic Association.