2016 Summer Olympics

Back to shooting school with 70% attendance compulsory

It’s back to school for our national shooters.

Headmaster Raninder Singh,  NRAI president, has cracked the whip.

Air rifle, pistol and shotgun shooters have to minimally attend 70% of the training camps.

Else they will not be allowed to represent the country at international events.

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The immediate trigger for this rule change are the “baseless” sexual harassment charges against national coach Stanislav Lapidus by Anjali Bhagwat, Suma Shirur, Sanjeev Rajput, Ayonika Paul, Lajja Gauswami, Tejaswani Sawant and Kuheli Ganguly.
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Singh said:

“When you don’t attend the national camps, how can you accuse him (Lapidus) of not attending to you? Most of the time our top shooters remain absent from the camp.”

The rule affects ‘hobbyist‘ Abhinav Bindra and army shooters Jitu Rai and Vijay Kumar most.

The policy , however, is quite progressive—for an Indian body.

Young and single mothers can miss camp during emergencies.

20 elite shooters had skipped the recently conducted senior national camp in Thiruvananthapuram.
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At the same camp, 14 army shooters had received orders to report back to their units for selection to the World Military Games in South Korea from October 2-11.

The trials were scheduled for July 2. The national camp concluded on July 6.

An NRAI representative said:

“The Army told us about their selection trials at the last minute. NRAI was always clear in its scheduling that the shooters will have to report for the camp after the World Cup trials. Army never informed us in advance about their trials, otherwise we would have worked out a solution. NRAI has requested them to postpone their trials by a week so that their shooters can report to them after July 6.”

The Army later rescinded its orders.

The shooting camp was also hit by a food poisoning episode with at least 12 participants hospitalized.

Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai, Apurvi Chandela and Abhinav Bindra are the only shooters to have secured quota places for the Rio Olympics based on their international performances.

A maximum of 30 quota places (two each) in 15 disciplines are available to every country.

Gopichand versus Gutta: War of words heats up

The war of words between members of Pulella Gopichand’s camp and Jwala Gutta’s supporters intensified.

English: V Diju & Jwala Gutta Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a diatribe defending the former All-England champion, the SAI director-general Injeti Srinivas said:

“We firmly stand by Gopi. His credentials as player, coach and administrator cannot be questioned. His contribution to the game is unparalleled and cannot be nullified by such unjustified outburst by an athlete. Having said that, Jwala’s allegations against him are in bad taste.”

He added:

“These comments are unfair and baseless. In the last TOP committee meeting, it was Gopi who urged the identification committee to bring all deserving doubles pairs in badminton into the scheme, including the duo. Earlier, he was the driving force behind the game getting a specialist foreign coach in doubles. Disappointment is one thing. But criticising an accomplished person such as Gopi openly without ascertaining facts is not fair. There are certain ‘Laxman rekhas’ that she should be aware of.”

Srinivas claimed that there is no ‘conflict-of-interest‘ in Gopichand being the chief national coach and the majority of players selected hailing from his academy in Hyderabad.

He said:

“It is not that the national coach has canvassed for his membership in the TOP committee or his academy to be made a national training centre. We thrust it on him and he has delivered. 
We treat all athletes equally. No discrimination has been made whether it is in international exposure or training. Jwala and Ashwini have performed with complete support from the government.”

What Gopichand has singlehandedly wrought for the game of badminton in India in the past decade almost matches what the Chinese accomplished with their unstinting support and accompanying infrastructure over the last three decades.

While it is true that a doubles specialist coach, Tan Kim Her of Malaysia, has been appointed till the 2020 Olympics, this does not appear to have been communicated to the very players who would benefit from it most.

Speaking at a promotional event in Mumbai on Sunday, Jwala’s partner Ashwini Ponappa said:

“It’s doing the rounds but I know absolutely nothing about the status of the appointment. It would definitely help if we had a separate coach for doubles. But what would also be good is if we have a separate camp for doubles. If you’re good at singles, you don’t need to be forced to play doubles just to make up the numbers.”

“Most juniors end up choosing singles because of the immense support and attention they are promised. You can’t blame them for choosing to do so. Nor can you force them to play doubles. Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy are doing well and it’s good to see that ours isn’t the only doubles pair winning tournaments. I think the reason why other countries are doing well is because they have separate coaches for singles as well as doubles and even mixed doubles. When we talk about us lacking that extra edge when it comes to playing them, I think this is what we’re talking about.”

“For doubles, the top 16 pairs will qualify and we have to be there. Ideally, we want to be in the top 10. The qualifying process started in May and ends exactly a year later. There are quite a few tournaments (coming up), but anything can happen. There’s still a long way to go. Our next goal is to do well at the BWF World Championships in Jakarta in August.”

Vijender Singh turns pro, ‘Pacquiaos’ his bags for London

Sport knows no borders.

Vijender Singh, a bronze medalist for India at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the middleweight category, has embraced professionalism.

The boxer has moved to London after signing a contract with Queensberry Promotions that will see him fight a minimum of six bouts in his first year as a pro.

The celebrated pugilist brings the curtain down on his aspirations of a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

His current employers, the Haryana police, objected to Vijender’s move claiming that he cannot serve two masters—Mammon and the Indian public, at large.

Vijender is currently on probation as a DSP.

Vijender said:

“I don’t want to compare myself to a legend like Pacquiao, but if I can achieve even half of what he has, I will consider myself successful.

Just like how Pacquiao carried the Phillipines flag and (Floyd) Mayweather Jr carried the US flag to their bout, I will carry the Indian flag to my bouts. I’ve taken Indian boxing to a new, untested level and opened international avenues for our boxers. This cannot be viewed as un-patriotic.”

The Bhiwani lad has always sought the limelight and is considered the glamour boy of Indian boxing.

His clean-cut good looks made him a favorite with advertisers and a brief doping (heroin) scandal did nothing to sully his reputation. The slugger also starred in a Bollywood film Fugly that released in 2014.

Vijender is not the first Indian boxer to turn professional but he could be one of the best and turn the spotlight back on a sport that has lost its luster with a disaffiliated and derecognized national boxing federation  unable to send Indian fighters to participate in international tournaments.

Indian boxing needs another shot in the arm and this could very well be it.
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Viren Rasquinha: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Viren Rasquinha unveils his plan for stakeholder management.

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What he said:

“I feel when there are such problems, all the stakeholders – be it Hockey India, Terry Walsh, sports ministry, SAI – you have to lock them up in a room, let them sit across the table and trash out all these issues.”

Former India hockey skipper and COO of Olympic Gold Quest, Viren Rasquinha, is hopeful that AussieTerry Walsh will return to coach the Indian side. Walsh resigned his post after his demands for a greater say in team decisions and the ability to pick his own support staff were turned down by Hockey India (HI) and Sports Authority of India (SAI).

The Indian hockey team has turned in stellar performances under Walsh’s guidance in the past year. The highlights are a Commonwealth Games silver, an Asiad gold ensuring direct qualification for Rio 2016 and a 3-1 series victory over Australia Down Under.

Rasquinha said:

“I am hopeful that he comes back. If you look at the overall results, he has done a wonderful job. The players are playing much better hockey. Leave aside the results, but in terms of the quality of hockey, their play has been very good.”

He added:

“It’s just so sad. I’m tired of speaking about it. I feel when there are such problems, all the stakeholders – be it Hockey India, Terry Walsh, sports ministry, SAI – you have to lock them up in a room, let them sit across the table and trash out all these issues. We should finally see everything for the good of Indian hockey. Good things are happening in Indian hockey for the last eight months and we should try our best to make sure that it continues.”

What Rasquinha really meant:

“And if they can’t resolve them, we should just throw away the key to the room.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“And while they’re at it, can we have some tea, coffee and snacks for the gentlemen? Terry Walsh can video-conference in, if he feels like it.”