SQUASH REPORTS 

• SRFI/IOA – Cess pool of corruption – By Rahul Kumar ( New Delhi )

• Maniam peddles team medals

• Maniam's fixing trick does not click

• Click to watch telecast on Youtube about Asian squash draw fixing which was broadcasted on NEWS X ENGLISH NEWS CHANNEL at 7.30pm on 18th Nov 2010

• Maniam shielded -rigged draw fielded

• Open queries to the Asian ASF committee

• No medals but crores embezzled...by ISP squash reporter Rahul Kumar
• OCI – the hoax on the Indian Diaspora & sportsmen (Article in India Post : 17^th September 2010)
• Malhotra's false affidavit nails, DSA/SRFI/MYAS complicity in age fraud.

TWO FACED POLICY–TICIANS

Mr Arun Jaitly’s recent defense of the autonomy of the BCCI, NSF’s and IOA at the new Sports bill draft conference at the Habitat hinged at selective amnesia. The debates were marked by politicians and lawyers but no current athletes, as their input was very conveniently controlled by many self serving sport administrators who only pay lip service to good governance.

An attempt to rally Mr  Jaitly’s  support through the GOPIO (Global Organization  People of Indian Origin ) for  PIO’s (Persons of Indian Origin) was turned down as  the latter  had conveniently forgotten the plight of the OCI’s who had been elevated by his party’s own stalwarts and colleagues like Shri  Vajypee and Mr Yashwant Sinha ( also President All India Tennis Association) and then unceremoniously dumped by  the connivance of N Ramchandran (SRFI) and Injeti Srinivas of the MYAS (Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs) despite all the notified benefits given to them by the BJP government. His vehement defense of the IOA now headed by the BJP’s V K Malohtra’s never questioned why they didn’t support the OCI players when Ramachandran challenged Justice Sistani’s order to let Karm play.  Rami  stated the  “ Judge has clearly erred in appreciating an assumption that if other federations like tennis and golf are allowing foreign nationals then why the writ petitioner is debarred by the federation.  It is humbly submitted that if some illegality has been done by some federations, the appellant cannot be compelled to do the same. “These arguments were in direct contradiction to what the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary Randhir Singh said: "It is rubbish. "If the world of sport allows them to play, why should we block them? "It is up to international federations to draw up eligibility rules.” The rest of the world wants everyone to come to them, this rule will only cause confusion.”  The reward for contradicting the IOA chief and breaking the Olympic Charter was Ramachandran being made the Treasurer of the same now disgraced organization.

Mr Jaitley’s defending the notorious N Ramachandran of the SRFI in the subjugation of the emerging squash world beater Dipika Pallikal (minor) and stopping her from competing in the 2008 Asian Championships on the false pretexts presented by his clients depicts the callousness of the sporting bodies. Dipika has moved on to become the highest ranked WISPA player   India has ever fielded. Then on the behest of Rami  Mr. Jaitley also got a stay on Justice Sistani’s order  against  the Indian born and domiciled minor Karm Kumar  to play the nationals, which was clearly  motivated by vengeance.  He succeeded but a month later the judgment was overturned and the GOI allowed all OCI’s to play Indian Nationals in all games. Maybe he should have asked his client on how much has the SRFI spent on players in ratio to the amount spent on lawyers to stop them from competing in about 30 court cases from 1998 till today.  Subsequently  Srivinasan   removed Rami from ICL Ltd  and with it all the benefits of using its  lawyers to blackmail  squash players,  but the question remains  if Mr Jaitly has any regrets  for trying to destroy the careers of young talents on the instance of a tyrant  who now controls  2 disaffiliated associations , Squash and Triathlon for not adhering to good governance. Since  Mr Jaitly’s  is venturing  into the realm of  defending the IOA & NSF’s  he should  shun clients who are victimizing players and instead  use his legal expertise and political clout to enforce the latter’s rights  or stop preaching good governance as that will end his credibility as an unbiased arbitrator.

Thus vote bank politics dictates that political expediency overrides ethics and the Olympic Charter. Suddenly the overzealous IOA kept mum as respondents  in the cases against the OCI’s  and did not utter a word in defense for the plight of  Prakash Amritraj, Shikha Uberoi ,Saurab Gill , Karm, Navin Suhag etc who had been declared STATELESS  by the MYAS  despite being conferred Indian Nationality bordering on  Citizenship  by the BJP government in 1999.  In contrast the IOA is fighting for a stand not recognized by IOC on tenure and good governance and even threatened to get India disaffiliated if status quo was not maintained.

Srinivasan and Ramachandran   used  secondary  games like squash, chess, triathlon  etc  to interact with the MYAS and use  ICL/BCC,s  indirect  clout  to influence policies changes and funding for their dubious so called sports promotional ventures. Thus the direct link between BCCI and MYAS had been bridged by ICL and the latter had used that to extract unbelievable concessions – the most scandalous one is that Injeti Srinivas ( JS  MYAS) knowingly allowed the private  ICL academy to select the Indian squash teams despite  being aware that both the National Coaches,  GO and many referees were part of the same consortium or had been compromised by them.

The controversy of the RR Pitch being adapted to suit the Chennai Kings may be debatable but has precedence. When both the brothers had not split their common agenda was to control sports through their ICL Academies. The Chennai Super Kings website till today states “The India Cements is promoting Cricket, Squash, Triathlon and Golf across India to produce talented sportsman of international class. “ The inference is that  these academies  recruited the National & Foreign Consultant Coaches , neutralized the GO’s  (Government Observer)  used their own Tamil Nadu Association referees and umpires and in the case of squash  selections , their own Rainbow courts which  were unique  to any other in India  and eureka this ideal combination resulted in the Indian team or contingent being chosen  pre dominantly from the ICL Academy. A testimony to these Rainbow  “squash pitches” which have not been replicated anywhere in India even a decade later is reflected in this interview to The Hindu  in 2001  ``What these players are experiencing is playing on the same courts where the championship will be held and this could help them familiarize with the conditions. Also no overseas players will be used to the coloured courts as here'', chipped in Srivatsan Subramaniam, Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Squash Rackets Association.”  The now disaffiliated SRFI still continues to hold all selection trials, camps etc in Chennai but ironically to the disadvantage of the outstation Indian players and the better alternate 12 Crore CWG squash courts remain unutilized. 

Thus the similarity in running Cricket, Squash, Triathlon, Chess etc as a family business and subtly coercing top players   to join the CKG/TNSRA/ TNTA/ TNSCA etc is the winning combination which would ensure that these players become  “ more equal than others.”

Though N Srinivasan has resigned as the President of the Indian Chess Association, his rivals state that his cronies will retain control as Ramachandran retains control of squash by TNSRA President ship, purported National Academy (ISA)  and other posts like VP of the SDAT etc.  The Indian Triathlon Association , also  controlled by Ramachandran’s family  and henchmen is just  besides the Squash one with a  common  gym , swimming pool etc and following  the same modus operandi of governance.

The recent injury of Gautam Gambhir which was concealed or downplayed because IPL should be contested by stars even if the India team is decimated by unavailable jaded cricketers for subsequent international series involving Indian pride. This highlights the plight of even the top players who are reduced to puppets in the bid to enrich the coffers of their employers. The absence of a players’ union and the British divide and rule policy by the NSF’s has undermined the sportsman to a loner incapable of fighting for himself, let alone a cause. 

It seems it is the prerogative of politicians cum lawyers to play the devil’s advocate when there is a clash between ethics, client’s interests and party agenda. In this dilemma the lowest common factor is the athlete whose interests are always sacrificed. If this change is only about a Congress IOA autocrat   being replaced by a BJP one then this charade will not escape public scrutiny. Thus if this new Sports Draft bill does not empower a players’ union and an independent summary grievance cell, the latter will again be spending more time in the judicial courts than in the ones meant for competing.

HI not on list of recognised bodies
Article in Hindustan Times, New Delhi (17/05/2011)

The sports federation that has given the country maximum number of Olympic medals is not recognised by the sports ministry.

If the shock of the hockey team's disappointing show at the Azlan Shah Cup at Ipoh was not enough, Hockey India (HI) will have to contend with the ministry's decision to derecognise it for this year.

The ministry has, from this year onwards, decided to give recognition to federations on an annual basis, and among the leading sports bodies that have missed out this time are wrestling, badminton, squash and the Association of Indian Universities (AIU). While the ministry has de-recognised HI for flouting guidelines relating to age and tenure of officials, the wrestling federation finds itself being left out because of its recently-held elections that's been challenged in court.

“Only 22 federations have fulfilled the ministry's guidelines and they have been granted recognition for this year. We expect that, in the coming months, other federations too will fulfil the norms and get on board,“ said Sports Authority of India (SAI) secretary, Gopal Krishna.

ON THE BACKFOOT The federations left out by the ministry will not get direct financial assistance and will have no say in the making of the Long Term Development Plan. The selection of coaches will also be the ministry's prerogative.

“We don't want players to suffer so we are not stopping financial assistance to the disciplines whose federations are not recognised. The ministry will directly look after the financial matters relating to coaching and participation of the teams in international events,“ said a ministry official. “We did'nt even call the federations not recognised by us for the steering committee meeting.“

AGELESS  WONDERS FROM UTTAR PRADESH (UP)  - 10/5/2011

The story of Sandeep  Kumar  Yadav is unique . He played the 2005 Junior Nationals  U -11 and lost to Rishi Tandon in the 2nd round. Ironically in September 2006  Deepak Mishra complained about Sandeep playing U-13  at the Rajasthan  Open to  Dharmender  Kamthen and  me . These  protests etc  made the purported National Coaches and UP Association  field him in the U-15 category  a month later in the Nationals,  by  bypassing  2 years of U-13  and  as Sandeep  Yadav  sans  Kumar.  Earlier that month N. Ramachandran  had written to Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) stating “ The SRFI has always acted consistently in respect of fraudulent  ages whenever they are brought to the notice of the Federation. Medical tests have been done and appropriate disciplinary  action has been taken in the past.”   Demonstrations at   Mayo College about age fraud etc  resulted in Sandeep being pushed into the U-17 category for the individuals but remained in the U-15 for the Inter State .   

In 2008 Dr N K Pandey , Secretary of  UP squash and the SRFI  invented an elixir of youth which would partially reduce  and then  stop the aging process and thus Sandeep reverted back  to  the U- 15 fold  for the Nationals.  In 2009 Sandeep  was  felicitated by Nikhil Pant  by awarding him  with   Rs 20,000 worth  of Prince  equipment for winning a  Men’s & U-19 tournament in UP !  Since Sandeep’s achievements from    U- 15 to men’s  had  outgrown UP’s potential ,  he was suddenly shifted to Daly College , Indore,  just before the junior nationals , under the  able   guidance of  Gajendra and Paramjeet Singh , both well versed in the benefits of the age  manipulation . A new  association,  justified a new  name and Sandeep reverted back to  his initial middle name Kumar . He  lost to Dhananjay Singh in the QF of the 2009 Nationals. The MP squash association & Daly College attested Sandeep’s  DOB  of  25/11/94 and entered him in the 2010 Nationals  ensuring his eligibility to remain U-17 till  2011!   

Thus Sandeep Kumar Yadhav has the unique distinction in WSF history of being the first player to compete  U-17  from  2007 to 2011  and congratulations to UPSRA/MPSRA/SRFI for achieving this miracle!   Their sense of fair play ensured that  the  3  years  Sandeep  was deprived of  in the  U-11, and 13 categories  were returned to him in his  5 year  span of  U-17 , a policy they have followed in the case of   other UP/Dhampur  stalwarts like Imran , Farman Khan  etc  who were compensated  by longer  innings in the U-19 age categories.  

The fact that Pankhuri Malhotra  was called for trials despite her  father’s confession admitting age manipulation but not compensating the victimized players was in connivance with  the SRFI who itself cannot  persecute Pankhuri  for fear of its own complicity in abetting  age  fraud being exposed, and  has succumbed to mutual blackmail at the expense of  honest players. Why was Sandeep called for trials is another mystery as he was only a pre QF in the last Nationals and has had no  notable results outside UP .  The only logical reason seems  that he was being used as a decoy  to manipulate  results  in the U-17 trials  as the SRFI knew he was overage, a tactic  often used by the latter to eliminate dissenting players.  Ranjit Singh from Dhampur  is another case of age manipulation and so are Kush and Deepak though  the latter 2 may be in the right category  for  this tournament but have gained at least an advantage of one year which still debars them  for  giving false information. It is evident that since the SRFI/TNSRA/ISA have the largest pool of competitive age frauds representing the country they cannot move against anyone as it will harm their own vested interests. Finally under the garb of specious arguments and leadership, the SRFI Patron / President TNSRA  N. Ramachandran  has insured  India ’s dubious distinction of having  overtaken Pakistan as the World hub of  Age Fraud in Squash.  

The exemption of trials was only given to National Champions by the SRFI but now has been given to anyone they deem fit. Theoretically they  may have given  Deepak Mishra  ( TNSRA/ISA player)  a direct entry  into the Asians knowing that he is not playing well and thus circumventing the whole selection process. Thus the recently held Asian / World Junior trials in Chennai are in violation of  the  government guidelines  on the  issue of good governance . There was no mandatory Government Observer  and  the presence of so many age cheats  fitted in exactly  with the  policy of  W S F President    reflected in his quote  on  February 17, 2001. ``Nothing can be more satisfying'' said N. Ramachandran, who believes that in the time to come, lot more stress would have to be laid on talents in the under- privileged strata of society. ``Give them free coaching and bring them up and they will serve Indian squash longer than talents from well- to-do families who would go abroad on some scholarship'', he said.

Brig Manchanda ‘s view  given to the MYAS  on 17/7/2008  was “   I think SRFI's entire approach is counterproductive and how can we deny India the chance to be represented by her best players, simply because they choose to study in a foreign university, by that token we should not be training any doctors, engineers, I.T. professionals, management professionals and so many other professions including nurses and plumbers “   

N. Ramachandran ‘s  gist was  that the underprivileged  have  no birth certificates,  financial backing , influence, limited education  and thus  were  ideal for induction into the  erstwhile ICL and now ISA academy.  The SRFI  manipulated  their age,  got funding from  the SDAT, MYAS , SAI and sponsors  and then used them also  as unpaid feeders to enhance  TNSRA and their Academy  by playing these professionals till adulthood against much younger amateurs, and then claim success. The advantages were embezzlement of multiple funding, no fear of protests or RTI applications and the complete dependency of this semi literate group on the TNSRA/SRFI/ICL/ISA combine for their only source of livelihood. When these pawns finally graduated to the senior levels their demands increased and thus were forced from purported world class players to become ordinary coaches at an age when they should have started breaking into the top 100. The story of A Parthiban, Naresh Kumar, Paramjeet Singh , Naveen  Jhangra  and Ravi D ? etc  is clear evidence of how world beaters  faltered during their prime.  

The SRFI has also roped in some corrupt officials of the MYAS who have deliberately misled Parliamentarians   from gaining access to vital information concerning age fraud. A  Lok Sabha  MP question  answered on March 2010 by the MYAS stated “ Since in the  past there was no system of reporting overage cases to the Government , such data for the last 3 years is not available “  We have adequate documentation that the MYAS had enough proof of  complaints that this   topic was discussed and replied to in correspondence  between NSF’s  and the Sports Ministry.  

The SRFI has openly declared that they would not follow the Sports Government Guidelines or the amendments to the New Draft National Sports Bill 2011. The  sham elections they  held a few months ago  are also not accepted by the Sports Ministry  as they were not conducted in accordance with the rules  and many contestants were  disqualified on  2 counts  of already having exceeded their term and secondly  by  holding similar posts in the Triathlon  Association t.  That means these Asian selections are illegal and the SRFI is using the loophole of the MYAS’s preoccupation with the new bill to continue with their agenda to promote TNSRA/ISA players by using discriminatory methods. In  the June 10th 2008 – WPC no 4439  SRFI  Counter Affidavit  in the  Rishi Jalan case   N. Ramachandran  stated   “ The SRFI is willing to hold selection trials in any part of the country if the world standard squash courts and other international facilities are available elsewhere. “   Major Maniam reiterated this to a IANS journalist a few months ago that the CWG center would be used for trials, selections and camps. None of these have been held in Delhi and such an expensive center is being   wasted and even the junior nationals have not been held here since 1998 despite the best facilities in the country.  

India is experiencing   a wave of anti corruption drives and it is difficult for the SRFI to get away with these malpractices today. If the players and parents don’t unite and sacrifice a little for a fairer tomorrow injustice will continue and keep players demoralized. There are many methods of grievance redress including writing to the State Associations/ MYAS/SAI/IOA/ Squash GO / Media and finally approaching the High Courts of India which have actually reigned in the errant federations.  No players should be subjected to the victimization that Joshna, Deepika , Karm , Aditya , Ritwik , Rishi, Sandeep etc went through and at present we have the most conducive atmosphere to collectively ensure that  the SRFI  interacts with the players by strictly adhering to the new sports legislation.

OPEN QUERIES TO THE ASIAD ASF COMMITTEE 

The Secretary General ASF/WSF – Technical Committee       14/11/2010 

Subject – Asian Games Squash Draws 

Dear Sir,

              As you are aware the TD Major Maniam has been manipulating the Asiad draws since Doha 2006 and the facts are well recorded. We hoped that after some queries you would rectify the draw in accordance with the Asiad/WSF/Olympic Charter, but instead you let Maniam continue with his agenda to rig the draw to compensate for the debacle of no CWG medals for India at the expense of the top Asian players being forced to play their own nationals so that India is insured of a medal. Unfortunately the draws have become a farce as the medal winning countries have been predicted by pitting players of the same country against each other in the crucial stages. Look at the other racket sport draws, even other games and you will see that these irregularities have only been permitted in squash. The details of this misadventure have been mailed to  the media, some concerned officials etc and if this illegality is not addressed squash administrators will be questioned for the next Olympic bid ,as already a new body  of prominent Olympians has written to the IOC President about the corruption in Indian sports. 

Many past transgressions, including your contradictory e-mails regarding the Asian Juniors 2010  have been included in writ petitions in the Delhi High Courts  which do not have jurisdiction over the ASF but other bodies like the OCA/IOC etc can take cognizance of all illegalities when the cases of arbitrary functioning are presented to them. 

The latest cover up on the ASF site is a desperate attempt to justify a fraudulent draw. The men’s seeding has shown Dick Lau(HKG) ranking in October as 97 and thus seeded 9/16 while Abdullah Almezayen(KUW)  has been shown as 75 and thus 5/8 but the opposite is true – please check the PSA site again and this deliberate attempt to mislead the players has been recorded. The irony is that your own site  shows the latest  PSA/ASF  rankings which even today show that Dick is 11 and Abdullah is 14 in Asia. The problem is that if you upgrade Dick to 5/8 then he cannot come up against Siddharth Suchde of India in the pre – quarters as both are ranked 5/8 and thus it is inevitable to change the draw as it is extremely unfair to pit the no 7 seed the no 8 seed against each other in the round of 16.Thus if a draw is being changed it should be for both sexes  by the players; in front of them and they should ensure that the countries have been segregated ; the individual world rankings take precedence over the less accurate  group seeding(5/8 etc) or if other world or continental rankings are used then the same should be used for everyone and not only Abdullah ,Joshna etc but also the non PSA/WISPA players, as some  of them are better than the ones playing the professional circuit.

The change will also mean that Dick will get the bye and Meng Xiaomin (CHN) will have to play somebody in the first round as he is ranked 16 and did not qualify for a bye in the first place. 

The Rules broken by the Technical Director Maniam  in Asiad 2010 are

1 The  OCA Rules & Constitution mentioned above and  the ASF  Competition Technical Information for the ASIAD 2010 states that General Issues will be resolved in accordance with the OCA Constitution and Rules and thus in all 2 player events segregation of players will be done as in Tennis, TT, Badminton etc will also pertain to squash and nothing stated in  the ASF Rule M7  clashes with the OCA rule. 

2. No Open Draw where the parameters of different lots were verified by Asiad squash players or info shared, like in Tennis etc infringing on Rule R3

3. Wrong seeding given on the ASF site resulting in 2 5/8 players playing in the pre quarters breaking Rule R-1 & M8

4. Rule R1 of the ASF not adhered to on the ASF Asian Ranking website itself.

5. Bye given to 15^th ranked player instead of  8^th or 10 to 14^th breaking  Rule M8

6. All e-mails to ASF officials bouncing so no clarifications or complaints can be made. 

Hope good sense finally prevails

By Rahul Kumar, Delhi

NO MEDALS BUT CRORES EMBEZZLED

The SRFI embarked upon an ambitious scheme in their LTDP (Long Term Development Program) by which they got Government funding  over a decade (2000- 2010) for the development of squash in India and players peaking for the CWG in Delhi. By now after crores poured into their failed grandiose schemes it is  only the officials who have benefitted  as  squash was only a means of enrichment and  Maniam an instrument  for Ramachandran’s  ascent in the  hierarchy of the WSF (World Squash Federation) 

Some of the most significant statements made by the World President  in the past few years reveals his intentions and mindset .In 2000  8 squash centres  spread all over the country were supposed to be operational and reinforce the CWG potential players especially in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkatta. These academies existed only on paper and the funding usurped. In 2006 Ramachandran statement  “ ....Delhi will anyway get a world class facility with the Commonwealth games coming up belied the existence of the SRFI /ICl academy in the capital even though it their LTDP,s continued harping on State Training centers in all major cities.

This second lie has also been exposed as the new Sri Fort squash complex  built at an inflated price is not commercially viable and thus  its courts  etc will double up into  more lucrative  propositions  like   banquet , conference or wedding  outlets. The cost of each doubles court comes to about Rs 18 lakhs and the all glass court about 1.5 Crore making the total project under Rs 5 Crore. The  CWG  OC (Organizing Committee)  for reasons best known to itself finally gave the total contract to ASB through its propped up surrogate Jubilee Sports for over Rs 11 Crores ! This was a trading company without any background in squash compared to about half a dozen Indian firms with foreign WSF approved collaborations according to the requirements of the OC tender, who were ignored in the initial enquiry( response by 7/3/09  and in the final list without any reason -  not even a price quotation. Another unusual feature was that this enquiry ignored asking for specialized squash panels or plaster , which featured 2 or 3 sides of a court.

To understand these irregularities one has to delve back to 1999 when N Ramachandran was the first and only customer (except 1 Rainbow  court at MCC in Chennai) who invited ASB  to  construct all the courts for his private ICL squash Academy between 99 till 2005. Citing these as the best courts he never bothered to recommend these Rainbow courts to any other state associations or private builders despite being the de facto agent (through ICL) along with the TNSRA (Tamil Nadu Squash Rackets Association) of these different courts . 

The predictions that SRFI would get the squash courts contract for ASB started with the article “Squash may soon be part of Olympic Games:Randhir Singh Chennai | on , Dec 5 2007 .” Mr Randhir Singh hailed the world class infrastructure for squash got up by the India Cements Limited(ICL) here which lifted the sport to almost mass level, said officials of the Delhi Development Corporation (DDC) would visit the academy. The facilities here would be duplicated in Delhi for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he announced.”

In an Counter – Affidavit to WP (C) No 4439 of 2008 Rishi Jalan vs the SRFI the following statements were attributed to him . “It is submitted that the World Championships/ Asian Games/ Commonwealth games will predominantly be played on ASB Rainbow Courts which is the latest in the squash court technology.”  dated   June 10^th 2008.  This prediction before the bids were finalized and the fact that ASB got the total contract of the wooden flooring, side panels and glass sidewalls   on a single bid without price comparisons with any other WSF approved  competitor reveals the true picture which has been  awarding the highest bidder despite all factors being equal.

The other corroborating facts are the  ex COO of the OC  Vijay Kumar Gautam (IAS)  another cohort of the ICL/TNSRA combine , after being kicked out of ISP( Indian Squash Professionals  - a squash NGO) for misconduct with some female staff   befriended Ramachandran ( Sec Gen SRFI)  (Squash Rackets Federation Of  India) who was  a high official in IOA, CWG and earlier  in SAI .  Vijay was posted to the MYAS where the late Sec Sports Mr SK Arora got rid of the latter when he found out about his shady dealings. But Vijay was picked up by Suresh Kalmadi who wanted exactly these sort of manipulators but a few months later realized that Vijay had conned the CWG of about Rs 250 crore, and thus dismissed him . In an  August  2010 article   “A Ringmaster’s Reckoning  “ by Anil Verghese it is  stated  that Vijay  “ used to disappear before every important meeting to this second office “, says   the former employee, who further alleges that the aim with most tenders seems to have been to restrict bidder to one of the OC.s choices.  He says specifications were crafted in a way that most interested bidders did not make it past the pre- qualification round. The fact that Vijay favoured Jubilee Sports (JSTL) for other contracts too, establishes a clear link between  ASB , the /ICL / TNSRA/SRFI  combine,  Jubilee  Sports and him . The reason Rami had to be very cautious by promoting ASB was that he had been elected WSF President and one of the clauses in the Memorandum was conflict of interests,  in this case promoting ASB.

Another  fraud was perpetuated by misleading propaganda about winning  4 medals in CWG 2010 .A quote from LTDP 2006  reaffirmed the same in 2007   “With constant exposure and training, the SRFI believes we would be able to go for a bronze medal in the Men’s, Women’s and Doubles.” On November 6^th a SRFI circular stated that the GOI had whittled down their expectations to only 2 medals, which would only be in doubles. The hypocrisy lies in the fact that the SRFI never built any double courts in India except in Rami’s  personal  ICL academy at Chennai and thus insuring that practise was only limited to  his academy players . The fact that India’s realistic hopes for even a bronze rested only in doubles where the individual ranking and standard takes a back seat to coordination and understanding as shown by Leander and Bhupati for decades, even sans a singles  ranking,  and the unexpected  Badminton and TT  CWG gold’s . But this lesson was ignored by the SRFI and at the last moment Saurav  opted  out of the Men’s doubles to create the debacle of  no medals in squash while their counterpart racket games like tennis, badminton and table tennis, all  got gold, and bonuses of silver and bronze. The fact that Saurav along with Ritwik had been World Championships runners up, and Asian Championship semi finalists way back in 2004 and 2006 respectively, seemed to have  been forgotten.

The financial and human costs of this pre mediated fraudulent enterprise was  initiated in 1999 when the CWG  LTDP was put in place . This step was taken by the MYAS(Ministry of Youth & Sports Affairs)  to ensure our top players peaked during the CWG and crores were given to the SRFI  in form of  finance, infrastructure, manpower and equipment  even before the  enhanced 2008 – 2010 budget  of over 9 crores  for the final preparations. But all the assets were utilized for Ramachandran’s  personal ICL squash  academy  and the rest of India did not get  doubles courts; all glass courts ; the MYAS  Sportal  website  mentioned  8 state training centers ;  coaches; training programs and everything mentioned in the untraceable  LTDP’s was fiction and as the ex GO aptly put it, these  schemes were only to gather funds for SRFI’s personal agenda. The fact that for all other racket games like  Tennis , Badminton and Table Tennis  SAI has facilities in different cities,  but none for squash. The reason is the embezzlement of funds allocated in circa 1999 to the ICL/SRFI combine  to build 8 centers  like the ICL one in Chennai  in collaboration with SAI-  which remain unknown despite being mentioned in the MYAS approved LTDP every year.

The CWG foreign Consultant coach Major Maniam got continuous extensions, a handsome salary  with all taxes paid for furtherance of N Ramachandran’s Asian and World  President ship ambitions  in which he was successful but at the expense of no CWG medals and reducing the base of squash in India to mediocre players with all top players shifting abroad unlike Badminton where Gopichand etc made champions in India . In 2006 Maniam and  Cyrus seconded Ramachandran proposal to withdraw the Indian contingent from the Manchester CWG because he did not want to waste the GOI funds as they were not medal prospects. Post 2006, 4 years later  with over 10  crores funding and home advantage , these  world class coaches have still not  got a medal. The 11.6 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between SAI and concerned NSF: states 

“A binding bi-partite Agreement will be signed between SAI and the concerned NSF clearly specifying the role of the two agencies, as per agreed LTF and ACTCs and specific targets in terms of performance for NSFs. The MOU will also indicate the penalty clause for not meeting the commitments or targets.”  Now that the SRFI has not met any of their targets will SAI uphold the penalty clause – the fact is that  the SRFI has been rewarded by Maniam’s contract being  extended  till 2012,  shows the depth of  collusion between these two corrupt organizations.  The story does not end there as Maniam has rigged the Asian Games draws again to insure that India gets at least a couple of medals to compensate for the CWG  fiasco. This scam is already under investigation and will be revealed very soon.

The other embezzlement  concerns the allotment of  Diet money including overhead & food supplements SAI Centre- Rs.450/550 and Non-SAI Centre  Rs 950/1050  for about 27 core players under the heading “Status Report on Preparation of Indian Teams for 2010 Commonwealth Games as on 20/10/09”  Despite all the players having stated they never received these funds or supplements the SRFI  Sec Gen. Srivats has denied that – but without producing one shred of evidence – if he is so sincere why doesn’t  he account for the utilization of  the  total Rs 9. 5 crores received for the CWG under all heads on SRFI  website and end the matter. That will also clarify the other disputes where many players have paid  for their own PSA membership, equipment  ,transportation and boarding  costs  for  many  CWG approved tournaments   which has been forbidden by SAI regulations under  SCHEME FOR PREPARATION OF INDIAN TEAM FOR COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2010  which states  “Each NSF shall give an undertaking that it shall not pass any of these costs to the players or their families. All expenses over and above the prescribed pattern shall be met by the concerned NSF from its own resources.”

One recent example of how the CWG funds were not awarded to the best ever U-15 junior Mahesh Mangonkar. He was the last to be put into the CWG squad despite fantastic results because he did not train in Chennai. He missed out on crucial CWG training funds and even his PSA entry fee was not paid. His recent results at the Pune and Maharashtra Open  (both in OCT) where he beat India no 6 and India no 4 in two successive tournaments back to back at the young age of 16 show that all Indian success has come from personal funds and initiative and by training in Egypt , UK and USA where the coaches are younger more accomplished and sincere than the ones in Chennai who all have personal agendas and are incapable of  training the top players and thus they have moved or go abroad for anything more than drilling . Despite beating Sandeep twice in SRFI tournaments Mahesh has not  been considered for the Asian Games men’s team of 4 , which has been introduced for the first time . In contrast Saurav Goshal  the then U -17 champ was chosen as the second player in the individuals  over all the U-19 and Men’s top players  without selections and despite having lost to many of them above him. The catch was that he had just shifted to the ICL academy in Chennai and as expected he lost in the first round to another un seeded player. 

Moral of the story – Loyalty to Chennai is more important than results as the MYAS/SAI are not bothered about all the failed predictions as long as their vested interests are protected by the corrupt  officials of  a private  academy which selects the Indian team from its own recruits or  at their whims and fancies,. at the expense of the rest of India.  

MALHOTRA’S  FALSE  AFFIDAVIT  NAILS ,DSA/SRFI /MYAS COMPLICITY IN  AGE FRAUD The  U-13 Girls National Champion of   2007 caught cheating her age at the behest of her  father by false documentation  is the first direct evidence of how the SRFI and their cronies  practise circumventing the law. The revelation by the ubiquitous Vijay Puri of the false affidavit by Anil Malhotra to lessen his daughter Pankhuri's age proves the connivance of the DSA (Delhi Squash Association )SRFI and MYAS(Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports)  Joint Secretary Injeti Srinivas in ignoring all complaints of age cheating as these players were being shielded by the same organizations that were supposed to weed them out. In mid 2008 a complaint about Pankhuri was sent to the SRFI/DSA and MYAS implicating the Government Observer,(GO)  Bhuvneshwari Kumari and some teachers for  perpetuating this methodology to attain success, but to no avail. Due to new revelations of rampant age cheating and the Delhi High Court  PIL filed by Rahul Mehra  Injeti was pressurised  into announcing a cleanup  by  actually equating  age fraud to doping and issued new guidelines for sophisticated testing to weed out this menace. But since the above mentioned clique had promoted, sponsored and forwarded the entries of so many overage players how could they expose Pankhuri and ignore the rest without committing hara kiri. Thus the SRFI/DSA website ignored the issue and advised Pankhuri not to enter a few tournaments till the matter died down. The victims who had lost their titles and prize money were not informed or compensated, thus proving collusion  by all concerned parties. The latest scam and slap on the face of the victims is that Pankhuri’s name has been added to the draw of the CWG test event  without a thought to the rights of the players who lost out ! It was ironic that  Vijay Goel, President Of DSA (delhi Squash Association) , Executive Committee of the SRFI and chief architect of  promoting  the largest contingent of age cheats through his company Dhampur Sugar Mills (DSM), was the Chief Guest and presented the awards. The traversity was the re-emergence of Pankhuri whose name was cleared and forwarded by DSA for this CWG test event, a blot on the spirit of these games. Thus the message to the lawbreakers by the SRFI is that don’t worry even if you are caught no titles or prize money shall be rewarded to the victims; our website will not show you as a perpetrator and nor will it mention any ban so that players in the future may not be disheartened to take this path to achieve success Our intentions are clear and you can see from past experience of players caught or accused of age fraud have gone free and even rewarded like  M or A Parthiban(ICL/TNSRA) ,Vishal  Sharma(DSM), Vikas Kumar(DSM), Vikas Garg,(DSM) Pradeep Thakur(DSM), Imran Khan(DSM), Farman Khan(DSM),Paramjeet Singh(DSM/ICL), Sarvesh Chauhan (SRAM), Ravi Dixit,(DSM/ICL), Prince Thakur (DSM), JP Mishra(DSM), Deepak Mishra (DSM/ICL), Kush Kumar(DSM/ICL), Ranjeet Singh(DSM), Abhinav Sinha( UP) Tushar Kothari (RJ/ICL), Karan Tharyamal(RJ), Sujat Barua(RJ/ICL), Sandeep Yadav (UP) and Pankhuri Malhotra (DSA/SRFI) There are some other players from famous boarding schools like Mayo College who may have changed their age for admission purposes but the same is being used for tournament participation. In an article in The Hindu on July 11th 2004 Mr. N. Ramachandran, SRFI Secretary- General, briefing newsmen said the federation had identified around a dozen players who were in the suspect category with regard to age. “ We will be calling them to Chennai and have them examined by medical experts. Should the conclusion be that the players concerned are beyond the age specified in their age certificates then they face a ban for a year”, he said. In case the matter goes to court, the SRFI was prepared to fight it out legally, he added. But far from taking any action or even identifying the culprits the  SRFI developed a better strategy of importing these players and granting them impunity if they joined their puppet ICL/TNSRA combine and played for them. Who could challenge the National Federation if they promoted these cheats and thus began the program of rewarding players like Parthiban, Paramjeet, Sujat, Tushar,  Ravi ,Kush and Deepak etc. One similarity between them was a lack of a birth certificate and thus easy manipulation of DOB’s even at a later stage. The fact that Ravi Dixit, an India Cements Ltd (ICL) product whose  incredulous age and education  antecedents were  exposed by SRAM,ISP, SRFD and the previous Government Observer went unheeded,  has now been heralded as the first Asian Junior Champion 2010 which  is another propaganda ploy by the ISA/ TNSRA combine. . Firstly  Ritwik won the Asian U-19 title in December 1998  and Bikram Uberoi in  2000 irrespective of the difference in nomenclature  they won  the Asian U-19 juniors title  period. Injeti,Srinivas The Joint Sectary (MYAS), also the Grievance Redress in charge and self  proclaimed champion of good governance, representing Indian Sports to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Switzerland gave all the ICL age fraud accused players a clean chit without demanding any verification process.  These incidents which are a blot on India’s image make it  imperative that all suspect players representing India for junior events  should be tested for age before being cleared by independent agencies not involving the federations or government sports bodies who have been compromised long back. The start should be made with Ravi Dixit and Kush Kumar as an example to assure the Indian public that the new guidelines  are going to be implemented and they are not another ploy to deceive the public and disgrace India  in the future. Ravi is being sent  this month for the World Juniors even though there has been enough evidence forwarded to the MYAS about the veracity of his age and nor has he been tested under the new May 2010  norms  of the “ National Code against Age Fraud”  This expose should now be used to weed out all unsavoury elements benefitting from the  motivated lax attitude of the SRFI which had  backed the myth that the passport age is sacrosanct, despite being proved  wrong in the case of  Sujat and now Pankhuri.   Two new cases have also come to light. The first is an interview in Indian Express (Mumbai Newsline dated 13 /9//2004 where Khush Sharma , a nine year old boy was travelling to Mumbai for the first time along with 11 other participants from Dhampur. Khush Sharma (actually Singh) later became Khush Kumar and is now known as Kush Kumar , the winner of many National and a couple of International tournaments. His date of birth according to this interview should be 29/5/95 but after this success like most DSM players it was changed to 29/5/96 and the rest is history. In another interview to a UAE magazine  under “Rustic Youth turn Keen Champions” Khush Kumar has been classified as 13 and had been declared the most promising player after winning the U- 11 National title in 2005, when Ravi Dixit was India no 2 U-15 in the same year. This interview took place in mid  Sept 2006 when Ravi was supposedly 14 ! These blatant discrepancies prove that a massive campaign has been launched to change age, names and schools for a cover up, but the player inadvertently reveals the truth !  Tushari Kothari from Jodhpur played the Junior Nationals in 2005 in the U-11 category. That means his date of birth should have been 4/2 /1995 as it was his last year U-11.  Then in 2006 he played  the Junior Nationals  in the U-13 category.  But in 2007 he made a double jump to the U-15 category not because he was too good for the U- 13’s but because he had fudged his age by a year and the SRFI now wary of promoting new overage players in the ICL academy probably recommended that he play U-15  and thus skip the embarrassment of committing age fraud and probably responsible for his  sudden unexplained  departure  from the ICL academy.   An updated chart has been attached to show how overage players  including  Pankhuri have been rewarded at the expense of genuine players by the same organizations which were supposed to debar them!                                DHAMPUR  SUGAR MILLS (UP) BOYS FOUND OVERAGE   NAME EVENT -OVERAGE AGE DOB                   REMARKS 1 Vikas Garg Junior Nationals 1999 U-13   Disqualified but no action taken 2 Vikas Kumar Junior Nationals 1999 U-13 11/7/85 Disqualified but no action taken 3 Vishal Sharma Junior Nationals 1999 U-13   Disqualified but no action taken 4 Pradeep Thakur Junior Nationals 1999 U-15   Disqualified but no action taken 5 Imran Khan Junior Nationals 2001 JNR Interstate 2006 Rajasthan Open 2007 U-15 U-19 U-19 6/11/88 6/11/86 Disqualified but no known or publicized action taken. Declared  2 years overage by SRFI in Oct 2004. UP Interstate NP UP- NP JR NTLS 2002. 6 Farman Khan Junior Nationals 2001 Rajasthan Open 2007 Hamdard 2008   Otters Open 2008 U-11 U-17 U-19 U-19 8/12/90 8/11/88 Debarred from  JR NTLS 2002. Declared 2 years overage by SRFI on 4th  Oct 2005. Played in Rajasthan Open 2007 Added in initial draw  but entry refused after  confirmation of age 7 Permit Singh ICL protégé Junior Nationals 2003       Khar Gymkhana 2004 U-13 U-13 25/9/91 25/9/90 Declared one year overage by SRFI. Rewarded by being sent for Qatar Juniors 4 months later.Shifted to TNSRA 2005 8 Ravi Dixit ICL protégé Many  domestic and Inter-national tournaments   16/1/92 Tested 2001/2004 (twice) In JNS 04 represented UP,Delhi & Haryana.TNSRA 9 JP Mishra DSM/ Asia S ugar   20/12/89 Removed from wrong age group 10 Prince Thakur Delhi Open 04   22/03/92 Removed from wrong age group 11 Deepak Mishra Junior Nationals 2009   2/12/94 Played JNR NTLS thrice U-11 12 Ranjeet Singh Junior Nationals 2009   24/4/99 Won in Noida but played U-13 in Jr Ntls despite being eligible for U-11 13 Kush Kumar ICL protégé Many  domestic and Inter-national tournaments U-11 U-15 29/5/96 29/5/95 Started with the name Khush Sharma then Khush Kumar and finally Kush Kumar   OTHER PLAYERS FOUND OVERAGE 1 Pankhuri M JSW Karnataka State 2007 Maharashtra State 2007 Junior Nationals 2007 Delhi Closed 2008 Delhi Open 2009 ISP Sprite Open 2009 Jaypee Open 2009 U-11 U-11 U-11 U-11 U-13 U-13 U-13 5/3/96    Anonymous report to Goel in 2007 but no action taken. Victims Neharika B, Aish Bhattacharya, Shamika Reddy ,Adya Advani (twice) Harshit Kaur (twice)  5/3/97 2 Tushar Kothari ICL protégé Junior Nationals 2005       U-11 4/2/95 4/2/94 Played  U-13 Junior Nationals only once and then U-15 as he was a year older. 3 A. Parthiban ICL protégé Was M Parthiban till 2002   11/12/87 11/2/86 Many  domestic and Inter-national tournaments. Supposedly  up to 4 years overage 4 Sandeep Yadav Junior Events 17 + ? 25/11/94 Date not accepted for JP Open  and not allowed in the U-15 category. 5 Sarvesh Chauhan Junior Events U-17   Banned by SRAM for a few tournaments. 6 Sujat Barua ICL protégé Junior Events U-15   SRFI found him 2 years overage OBSERVATIONS None of the Dhampur  players have ever shown their birth certificates. Passports made in Bareilly –notorious for Passport fraud. Sharad with a past record of  master  minded promoting age frauds to save his own players. Names have been changed- Kush, Deepak etc.  MYAS also disinterested in taking action despite GOs reports pointing out age frauds. The tests conducted under BI Singh on 26th Feb 2004 were obviously not accurate as 2 have been refuted by the SRFI  8 months later. Thus Ravi’s result is also suspect. Thus with 14  players proved to be overage what is the credibility of DSA. But it continues since his pact with exporting players to TNSRA /SRFI nexus (Common  functionaries) has earned him immunity from persecution. Independent tests should be carried out to end this menace once and for all.

MANIAM SHIELDED – RIGGED  DRAW  FIELDED

To prevent any repercussions on the Technical Delegate Maniam for manipulating the draw ,rankings  and breaking numerous ASF/WSF/IOC rules and  spirit of the Asian Games into a farce ,his saviors have resorted to postponing the ignominy  of accountability  to another day. The News X interview depicted the National Consultant Coaches’ inability to reply  convincingly to any questions and his body language betrayed his guilt. Now  Mr Randhir Singh and IOC officials will have to explain why squash rules are different from other racket games, the necessity of fielding countrymen against each other,the startling coincidences since 1996 when in  all open  draws nationals were separated, but now predominantly medal winning ones have collided against each other at crucial rounds. 

Another  gaffe is the 2 Pakistani girls WISPA rankings shown on the ASF draw are also 2 years old as Maria Toor  has been shown as 69 ( April 2008) and Ashraf as 121(March 2009) instead of the ones from 10/2010 which positions them as  110 & 150 respectively. 

Today’s update is that the draw has been changed but for the insignificant reason of replacing Muqaddas Ashraf of Pakistan by Shoukat Saima of Pakistan in the same slot. Since it was being changed they could have corrected the more glaring irregularities and also another discrepancy just discovered where  Matsui Chinatsu the 9^th seed (highest in 9/16) is playing Low Wee Wern the  no 3 (3/4) while 4  lower ranked 9/16 seeds are playing 5/8 ranked players ! 

The fact that corruption is the biggest issue in India at present has also trickled down to sports where Kalmadi is being pressurized to resign from the IOA presidency  too, while his other close aides Darbari and Mahenderoo have been arrested and implicating the former. The resolve of the Delhi High Court to reaffirm the 8 and 12 year NSF tenure clause will directly debar Srivats (Sec Gen SRFI & ASF Vice President) and many other of his cronies from continuing - who have consistently flouted all rules for over a decade. The fact that nearly the entire SRFI committee including the WSF President and his wife are also holding similar posts in the Indian Triathlon Federation shows that sports is an instrument for personal aggrandizement and thus they will sacrifice any principle to stay in power. The only grievance is that they have ignored Maniam and Cyrus ,who for their loyalty should also have been inducted as Triathlon coaches. These developments and the impending court cases will further weaken the SRFI from continuing to implement their biased and motivated  policies in India or Asia. 

Now that it is clear that the perpetrators of this rigging will not relent, the fight will continue to oust all compromised officials from their entire local and ASF posts and the Asian players will insure that all rules are implemented and the vague or discriminatory ones clarified or removed.

  By Rahul Kumar (New Delhi)

MANIAM  PEDDLES  TEAM  MEDALS

The desperation to win medals for India by dubious methods  seems to have trickled down to team events also , despite the fact that our players are capable of getting at least a bronze in both events without any favours.  It seems that Maniam is not confident of  his coaching or in fact the lack of it as most of the Indian contestants are based abroad , and anyway we have already proven that his agenda is more  to do with succession  politics and manipulation of rules, than teaching the game.

Every squash enthusiast  knows that in the men’s team section there are only 5 countries which can get medals barring a miracle. In today’s  ranking and performance order they are 1. Malaysia  2. Pakistan 3. India  4. Hong Kong  and 5.Kuwait. The fact that India has been pitted against 6 countries with Malaysia in Group B insures that we have already qualified for a bronze as no other team besides Malaysia can beat us even if Saurav does not play any matches. While pool  A is much tougher and  Pakistan seeded 1 overall  due to debatable factors already exposed , will  top  their half. The main battle will be between Hong Kong and Kuwait for the bronze with a slight edge to the former.

The women’s draw unlike the men’s does not take into account the Asian Team Championship  results held 6 months earlier where the positions were 1. Hong Kong 2 (AG – 2). India (AG – 3) 3. Malaysia ( AG – 1)  and the AG seeding are the opposite.  It’s obvious that the WISPA seeding is taking precedence while in the men’s despite a wide gap between the 3 top Malaysians compared to the 3 Pakistanis PSA  rankings , results etc have not been considered. Fortunately the Indian girls are also ensured of a medal as Hong Kong is the only contender for topping  pool B, whom we have beaten in the initial rounds of the Asian Championship , held  earlier this year. Thus our bronze is secure irrespective of our performance against Hong Kong which is more relevant for other purposes.

The fact that Joshna is playing higher than  Dipika  belies the fact that the WISPA ranking has not been used and nor was there any seeding trial held in India but is based on very old results and thereby rendering the ASF ranking for Asia null and void and  to be slotted as per convenience by select ASF officials to maximize  the outcome of matches. Thus 3 bronzes for India had been  ensured  before the first ball was hit and anything extra will be a bonus. For this largesse Maniam had to appease the other country officials by guaranteeing them medals, proving that the  contestants are irrelevant  pawns in the larger  game plan . 

  By Rahul Kumar (New Delhi)

Indian players need to give squash top priority: Coach
Indo Asian News Service
ians.in
Last Updated: December 17,2010 18:56:05

New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) Indian squash players are loaded with talent but they need to give more time to the sport to become a force on the world circuit, feels coaching great Malcolm Willstrop.

The Englishman, one of the most respected coaches in the world and who runs an academy in Leeds, finds that Indian players are stuck between academics and sport, which is proving to be a hindrance in the development of their game.

India currently have three players -- Saurav Ghoshal, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal - on the professional tour and in the top-50 bracket. The Englishman is coach to all three.

Willstrop strongly feels that the players need to give the sport top priority.

'This dilemma is not only in the minds of the Indians but also the Egyptians,' Willstrop told IANS.

'It is between the age of 18-22 when you give total commitment but here I see the players have to manage their college and the sporting career. It has to be either of the two. In Europe, many players opt out of college to pursue squash. My son (World No.5 James Willstrop) did the same.'

The last decade has seen the end of dominance of Pakistan and Egypt with six Europeans figuring in the top-10. Nick Matthew, the reigning World Champion is from England. Though Egypt still has four players in the top-10, none of the Pakistani players are in that bracket.

According to Willstrop, the half-hearted approach towards the sport results in injuries on the professional tour.

'The injuries are inevitable if you don't give adequate time to the sport,' he said.

'Ramy Ashour (the current No.1) is quite prone to injuries and had to pullout from the Punj Lloyd Masters here. Saurav (No.22) is a bit lucky in this case. He was training under me in Leeds and also had his college there.'

Willstrop, who is also here to teach the upcoming players, said: 'I spoke to some of the junior players and there is no concept as to how to train. Their parents want them to study as well. I say let them play if they are passionate about the game else they always have the option to fall back on academics,' he said.

Dipika vs World No 7 - Battles To The Brink. (18/12/2010)

The first set began with a series of winners and errors and both players were assessing each other’s game since they had played only once, 2 years ago. After being 3-0 down , Kasey the more consistent and faster on court player stepped up the pace, mixed her shots with good lengths and deft drops to race ahead and win the first set 11-5. Dipika was a bit late to retrieve the short balls and had a negative balance of only 3 winners and 5 unforced errors and a couple of strokes against her, while Kasey had a positive ratio of the same.

Confident Kasey raced ahead in the second set using the successful tactics of pushing Dipika to the back wall and finishing any loose mid court ball with a volley or normal drop shot. Sensing Dipika’s front court retrieving abilities were not optimum she used every opportunity to play in front. The result was another 11-5 victory are attested by the statistics which show Dipika’s 4 winners and 5 losers while Kasey made 6 winners, got 1 stroke and gave 1 negative !

Taking a cue out of Saurav’s resolve Dipika was not demoralized despite being 0-2 sets and 0-2 down in the third . Surprisingly she was re energized , swifter and more aggressive and started unleashing a barrage of winners, and even flattened a couple of sliced backhand cross courts which caught Kasey unaware. At six all Dipika was hitting winning forehands, boasts and drops at will and Kasey could only make 1 point after that, losing 7-11. The stats tell the story – Dipika’s 8 winners and 1 point lost to late recovery while Kasey made 6 winners and 3 mistakes.

Dipika started the fourth set with a volley nick winner. She now had the confidence to kill the ball with a wide range of shots, deception and left the 2nd seed stumped at how to stem this on slaughter. Luckily for her Dipika was bestowing her with 1 enforced error with every 2 winners and thus dictating with Kasey a bystander despite the score line of 11-7, as revealed by the statics. At 5-4 Dipika hit one of the most difficult, rare and exquisite shots in the game, the short volley trickle boast which completely outfoxed her opponent as well as the spectators, if they were not concentrating as it was executed and finished in a split second.

This spurred her on to display her arsenal of low hard cross courts, flattened and sliced backhands, forehand good length winners to reach 9-4. Subsequently 2 errors by Dipika and 1 winner by Kasey could not prevent the decider as Dipika closed the set 11-7 with a deadly cross volley nick from behind. The stats showed 11 winners and 5 errors by Dipika while Kasey had only 2 winners and the other 5 points had been bestowed to her by Dipika’s errors suggesting that despite the score it was the latter that controlled the total proceedings.

The break after the 4th set saw Kasey looking tired and covering he face in a towel while Dipika’s body language was comparatively more positive. But appearances can be deceptive as Kasey came out aggressive, fast and with a mission to protect her reputation. She dashed ahead to lead 7-0 by hitting multiple winners and also displacing Dipika to hit into the unmanned open court. Realising the enormity of the situation in front of her shocked Indian supporters and sponsors Dipika stepped up the resistance with a valiant effort to recover to 5-9 but it was too late and her fight back ended with a tin. Kasey hit 7 winners, made 2 errors and got 1 stroke while Dipika only hit 2 winners and made 3 errors. But the positive is that she kept Kasey on her toes for over 60 minutes and at only 19 Dipika is threatening the top 10 players whose average age is about 27, but she will have to fend off the fast rising talented junior Egyptian contenders. 

I agree with Malcom Willstrops assessment that the Indian press is being too harsh on our top players considering the handicaps faced by them. The reporters especially the ones not too familiar with the rigorous routines, financial constraints and selections blackmail inflicted on the players, and despite the generous CWG funding the benefits were trickling down to the players which prevented optimum performance. It was the generosity of the Punj Llyod / Mittal trust that the best performances came from their sponsored players like Dipika, Saurav and Joshna. Harinder and Siddharath the two other top players were hindered by no sponsors but their training and residence in the UK improved their game in contrast to the players who were based in India. The responsibility of the press is also to highlight the misappropriation of the player’s funds and ensure that they are given their dues so that they have the wherewithal to maximize their ability instead of misplaced criticism without analysing the ground realities.

India seems to be the lucky destination for the Ashour brothers as Ramy won both the Herald Maritime and PSA in 2005 and 2009 on his only two outing to this country. Now Hisham (PSA 29) has compensated for his younger brothers absence by beating 2 top 10 players namely Laurens Jan Anjema (PSA 9) and first win against Thierry Lincou (PSA 7) in their 4th PSA encounter to reached the semis. His trademark atrocious nicks were in full flow against both his opponents but now coupled with newly found patience to rally too.

The two men’s semi between 2 Englishmen against 2 Egyptians promises to be a cracker due to the contrasting styles as the former will try to wear down their opponents by pinning them to the back wall and take no risks while the latter will try to finish the ball at every opportunity.

Saurav, Joshna sad at state of CWG squash venue

New Delhi , Dec 15 (IANS) Indian shuttlers Saurav Ghoshal and Joshna Chinappa Wednesday said they are sad to see the state of the Siri Fort Sports Complex - the venue of the squash competition during the October Commonwealth Games.

Saurav, who is in the capital for the PSA Punj Lloyd Masters, felt the venue has been 'untouched' since October.

'It is extremely sad the see this place not being used for squash,' Saurav told IANS.

'It feels as if the authorities have not touched the venue since the Games got over.

'This is the best facility we have in the country and it should be a centre for the sport in North India . I hope they are listening to this,' said the world no 22.

The sports complex is the property of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

Joshna, who along with Dipika Pallikal is the leading female player of the country, echoed similar views.

'The whole stadium is dusty. It gives me a feeling that nothing happened here after the mega event. We agree the atmosphere cannot be the same as what we had in the Commonwealth Games but they can certainly maintain the place. It is one of the best facilities I have seen in the world and it should be used to develop squash in the country,' said World No. 36 Joshna, who is competing in the WISPA Punj Lloyd Masters.

At present, the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai is the only full-fledged training centre for the sport in India .

Saurav won two bronze medals while Joshna won a team bronze in the recently concluded Asian Games in Guangzhou . The two are of the view that it will be tough for India to aim for a gold in the multi-sporting events if the younger lot is not encouraged to play squash across the country.

'We will lead to nowhere if the sport is confined to Chennai. The other big cities have clubs but not the academies. We will only get future players if there are centres in major cities,' said Saurav.