MUMBAI—IPL Commissioner, Chirayu Amin, spoke to MakeTimeForSports on the fall-out of the Gabriella Pasqualotto affair and steps taken to remedy the situation.
MTFS: What are you doing to ensure against the recurrence of a Gabriella Pasqualotto?
CA: We are extremely perturbed by the South African cheerleader’s antics and have taken steps to prevent such an event recurring. We are currently talking to the franchisees about rethinking their attitude towards Western cheerleaders and look farther east, specifically China, for pom-pom girls next year.
MTFS: Why China?
CA: Members of the BCCI have commented on the impressive demeanour and attitude of the Chinese medal presenters at the Beijing Olympics and the Guangzhou Asiad. We believe that the Chinese girls are well-disciplined and well-behaved and will fit into the Indian milieu much more easily than Ukrainian or South African cheerleaders.
MTFS: But the Chinese have very little history of cheerleading…
CA: That is not such a big issue. We have excellent choreographers in India. And we will be looking closely at the credentials of the candidates. We intend to cash in on the Chinese proclivity towards gymnastics. Girls with prior gymnastics training specifically those skilled in floor exercises will be preferred over lesser candidates.
MTFS: But do you feel that this will prevent a Pasqualotto-like incident?
CA: China is a communist state and censorship is expected from a totalitarian society. The Chinese girls ,thus, are inherently tight-lipped. In addition, it is unlikely that the girls will be equally fluent in English. There is very little likelihood of a website or newspaper offering them contracts to describe their cheerleading experiences online. Should they blog, they would do so in Mandarin or Cantonese. Who would visit a Chinese site for IPL or cricketing news? Not the average Joe-fan.
MTFS: But what about the cricketers? Won’t this give them added license to misbehave?
CA: That’s the beauty of the plan. We have taken every aspect into account. Each of the girls will also be a black belt in Chinese martial arts. Should any cricketer overstep the boundaries, the girls have carte-blanche to defend themselves using every means at their disposal. A couple of well-placed kung fu chops can cool ardour very quickly indeed.
MTFS: Thank you,Mr. Amin, for talking to MakeTimeForSports.
CA: My pleasure.
(The character(s) in this story are real but the facts and “quotes” are not. You knew that already, didn’t you? Any stereotyping is regretted.)
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