AND THE PERSECUTION CONTINUES

 

n yet another instance confirming its parochial attitude, the incorrigible Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) has conveyed that only players that have shifted to Chennai (TN) will be treated well, and all others across the country will be victimized. This will be implemented even if the Chennai players are over age or undeserving for selections by merit. 

The latest incident is related to Qatar Open. Since the inception of this tournament 3-4 years back, this tournament has been used by SRFI to 'reward' loyalists. Though a tournament of little significance by itself, the participants do technically represent their countries. It consists of individual and team events. While SRFI has termed it as an 'unofficial' tournament in order to justify its own arbitrary selection of players, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is blissfully ignorant, and in reply to an application under Right to Information Act (RTI), stated to the effect that it is unconcerned as ever and SRFI “takes care” of everything. It sure does! 

Last year, SRFI did not inform anyone about the Qatar Open, or hold selections/trials/camps for players. It did not even consider National Champions like Vikram Malhotra and Aditya Jagtap, and took other players who were based in Chennai. Laxman Joshi was included in a clandestine manner because his coach Sunil Verma prefers to toe the SRFI line. Laxman has never beaten Vikram or Aditya. Coaches loyal to SRFI are sent for this event- last year Sunil Verma enjoyed a jaunt, and this year the manager cum coach cum acting boss of Dhampur Sugar Mills (DSM) squash squad Sharad Sharma is a beneficiary! Sharad is generally seen going overboard in his efforts to please his masters. As with last years and before, this year too no announcement of the tournament was made, and no selection made, leaving out a deserving player Divij Singh from Delhi. Divij has superlative potential, and has made rapid progress in the last few months. He reached the Pre Quarters of the last Junior Nationals. As per SRFI's own criteria of inviting Quarter Finalist of last Nationals for selections, 6 of the 8 players have crossed over to the next age group, making Divij eligible for at least a selection trial. Having been left out, he became yet another young player who has had to knock the door of Delhi High Court. 

As if that were not enough, SRFI has forwarded the name of a Chennai based player Karan Malik in the Under-17 category, despite Karan turning 17 years of age in December. This is consistent with SRFI's 'policy', since another player selected is Parmit Singh, who has shown no performance anywhere, except in changing his name from Paramjit Singh, as well as his date of birth! Does Dronacharya Cyrus Poncha, (India Coach) not know what is happening under his own nose??? Can he act in NATIONAL interest, or will it always be TAMILNADU interest? How many more Eklavyas will it take for him and SRFI to give them a Karmik lesson?
  

THE GROUND REALITIES 

SRFI gets MYAS to remove Brig. Manchanda as Government Observer (GO) for Squash, since he tried to have players selected on merit. This was at the behest of four TN Members of Parliament who wrote to Ministry of Sports to remove Manchanda. SRFI used its influence through these MPs, one of whom supplies cement bags to India Cement Ltd.!!! 

Buvaneshwari Kumari reinstated as GO despite her holding office in SRFI simultaneously, and not making any Report/Observation in her last stint of SEVEN years as GO (as revealed under RTI)! 

Meherwan Daruwala also appointed GO, but makes no observations on these issues. We are hopeful that national interest will prevail over his proximity with his old buddy and club mate Cyrus Poncha. 

Vijay Goel (DSM) buys peace with SRFI for Delhi/Dhampur Squash Association (DSA) in exchange for a safe haven in Chennai for his overage players, but at what cost? At the cost of the deserving Delhi players. We hope other DSA officials like Dr. B. I. Singh, Sameer Thukral, can ensure a level playing field for Delhi players. 

STOP PRESS

Following the Qatar Open bungling by SRFI being highlighted in Hindustan Times, SRFI displayed its acrobatic ability by essaying a beautiful somersault. It promptly replaced Karan Malik by Ramit Tandon! While that sorts out the overage issue, it still does not help much because more deserving players are still overlooked. Ramit is more deserving in SRFI's eyes because he moved to Chennai- and rapidly lost most of his squash abilities, proven by his decline from National Champion earlier to nowhere now. For details on other players, their reactions etc, read the follow up article in HT on website www.ispsquash.com. For improving your chances of selection to international tournaments, shift to Chennai!”

Mens ranking APRIL 2009

RANK PLAYER  COUNTRY
1 Karim Darwish   EGY
2 Amr Shabana  EGY
3 Ramy Ashour   EGY
4 Gregory Gaultier  FRA
5 David Palmer AUS
31 Saurav Ghosal  IND
59 Ritwik Bhattacharya   IND
115 Siddharth Suchde   IND
143 Harinder Pal Sandhu   IND
145 Naresh Kumar  IND
179 Gaurav Nandrajog IND

Womens ranking APRIL 2009

RANK PLAYER  COUNTRY
1 Nicol David  MAS     
2 Natalie Grainger USA     
3 Rachael Grinham   AUS     
4 Natalie Grinham NED     
5 Jenny Duncalf  ENG     
38 Joshna Chinappa IND
50 Dipika Pallikal IND
155 Anwesha Reddy  IND
174 Surbhi Misra  IND
     
 

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