Wednesday, Jul 17, 2002
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Sports : General
Now, the honour will go to woman shooter Anjali Vedpathak-Bhagwat. This is not the first time the IOA has treated top sports personalities shabbily. It had not spared even P.T. Usha from such treatment, humiliating her during the SAF Games in Madras in 1995. Now, for no fault of his, Gopi Chand, who would have richly deserved the honour, has been discarded and that, too, without an explanation. It is learnt that after Gopi Chand's name was disclosed to a few sportscribes, through regular information channels within the IOA, on the day the contingent was approved by the Union Sports Ministry, a top IOA official took exception to what he felt was a `leak'. A change was ordered and thus Anjali, away in Lahti, Finland, for the World shooting championships, was `brought in' on Monday. It might be just a coincidence or perhaps it is not, but it is worth recalling that another shooter, Jaspal Rana, had led the Indian contingent at the opening ceremony of the last Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998. In Kuala Lumpur, Gopi had helped the Indian men's team to a silver medal and won the individual bronze as well. Three years later he reached the pinnacle, winning the All-England championship. It would have been apt had the IOA stuck to its original decision to give this badminton star the honour of leading the contingent at Manchester. Those of us who did report the news that Gopi was the IOA's choice as the flag-bearer would have happily ignored the `leak' had we even got an inkling that someone was planning to make an official announcement and any attempt to pre-empt would eventually hurt a great champion.
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