Poaching slur on kayak team
SUMAN K. SHRIVASTAVA & PRADUMAN CHOUBEY
A day after two netball players were benched over an ugly fracas with Andhra Pradesh members and on a day frenzied spectators forced the men’s hockey match to be put off, the kayaking-canoeing crew of Uttarakhand walked out of the competition, crying poaching of its players by the state outfit in gross violation of rules.
The Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) has, however, denied the allegation.
With the team pulling out, nine 200m and four 500m men’s and women’s events at Dhanbad’s Maithon reservoir had to be postponed.
According to Manoj Rawat, the treasurer of the Uttarakhand Kayaking, Canoeing and Rafting Association (UKCRA), 16 players out of the 27-member Jharkhand squad hail from the northern state and none of them acquired the mandatory no-objection certificate (NOC) from UKCRA to row for the host outfit.
“So, we have decided to withdraw from these events. Our 23-member team will participate only in canoe-polo and slalom,” Rawat said.
He said Uttarakhand coach Rajeev Kumar, at a meeting with the Games Technical Conduct Committee on February 20, had registered a protest against poaching. A week before the National Games kicked off, association president Kedar Singh Phonia had also raised his objection in a letter to the Indian Kayaking Canoeing Association, but in vain.
“Under Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Association guidelines, a player can represent his home state, employers like army or railway and the state of residence. If he wants to play any other state, he will have to take an NOC from the sports association concerned, in this case UKCRA,” Rawat pointed out.
He added that the 16 playing for the hosts either worked with Bengal Engineers or Uttarakhand Police or the army.
So far, Jharkhand has won a gold, a silver and a bronze in various categories of canoeing and kayaking. Uttarakhand hasn’t won a single medal.
While Ajit Kumar and Raju Rawat bagged gold in 1,000m canoe doubles for Jharkhand, Ashyut Machary, Manoj Singh, Nizam Ali and Prem Kumar won silver in 1000m kayaking fours. The bronze was won by Nitin Tamang in 1,000m canoe singles.
All of them, except Machary and Tamang, are natives of Uttarakhand. But the duo work with the army and are posted in Uttarakhand, and hence need that state’s nod.
JOA secretary-general S.M. Hashmi, however, said the Games committee had overruled the objection. “The players have got NOCs from their employers. So, there is no harm if they play for Jharkhand,” Hashmi, also the president of the state kayaking and canoeing association, said.
Rawat refused to buy this. He said poaching would never raise the standard of sports in Jharkhand. “Borrowed players will be like a stumbling block in the development of local players. It is also against the spirit of the Games.”