Thursday, April 15, 2010

Y! Alert: Football News India

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from Football News India

ഛേത്രിയുടെ അരങ്ങേറ്റം ശോഭനമായില്ല - അന്വേഷണം Top
 
Budiram brace sets up EB win - Kolkata Mirror Top
Calcutta Telegraph Budiram brace sets up EB win Kolkata Mirror Kolkata: Budiram Tudu struck a brace and Rennedy Singh scored one from the penalty spot to hand East Bengal a 3-1 victory over Mohammedan AC in their CFL ... Tudu nets two in EB victory Calcutta Telegraph all 3 news articles »
 
'I have been very lucky' - Sportstar Top
Sportstar 'I have been very lucky' Sportstar I was then playing for Railways, but my brother John, who was already playing for East Bengal , advised me to shift to Calcutta (now Kolkata) for that is ... and more »
 
Interview with Sukhvinder Singh, Marketing Head, All India Football Federation ... - Keeda of Sports (press release) (blog) Top
Keeda of Sports (press release) (blog) Interview with Sukhvinder Singh, Marketing Head, All India Football Federation ... Keeda of Sports (press release) (blog) ... at a neighborhood ground, I bumped into another football lover who happened to be working for Nike which had recently opened its office in Bangalore . ...
 
Gunners FC guns down Shivajians - TodayNews.in Top
Gunners FC guns down Shivajians TodayNews.in Gunners Football Club defeated Shivajians FC 'B' 2-1 in the third division of the Peninsula Land Pune District Football League at the Range Hills ground on ...
 
PFC to play Salgaocar on Saturday - Indian Express Top
PFC to play Salgaocar on Saturday Indian Express PFC who are currently in the top five, will take on VIVA Kerala on April 21, JCT Phagwara on May 3 and Sporting De Goa on May 9 at the Balewadi Sports ...
 
ONGC, SESA enter final round with convincing wins - Indian Express Top
ONGC, SESA enter final round with convincing wins Indian Express After a barren first half, former international striker SK Tarif Ahmed scored both goals for ONGC FC Mumbai in the 65th and in the second minute of added ... and more »
 
Falcons come out all guns blazing against Detroit - Sakaal Times Top
Indian Express Falcons come out all guns blazing against Detroit Sakaal Times PUNE : CMS Falcons 'B' were on a roll as they thrashed Detroit Football Club 5-1 in a group A third division encounter in the Peninsula Land Pune Football ... Football: Falcons trounce Detroit Indian Express all 2 news articles »
 
I-League Preview: Dempo SC – Churchill Brothers SC - Goal.com Top
Goal.com I-League Preview: Dempo SC – Churchill Brothers SC Goal.com The last time the two sides met, the game was almost in the hands of Dempo when they literally threw away the match and allowed Churchill to snatch the ... and more »
 
Bad light halts football action - TodayNews.in Top
Bad light halts football action TodayNews.in It had all the makings of a good contest but bad light marred Wednesday's proceedings in the ONGC II Division Football League at the Bangalore Football ...
 
Against 'the Rape of Indian Sports' | OPEN Magazine Top
Against 'the Rape of Indian Sports' The man who forced the powerful BCCI to become more transparent has now filed a public interest litigation against almost all major sporting bodies in India, demanding that they come clean. 2 BY Akshay Sawai EMAIL AUTHOR(S) Tagged Under |  sports | BCCI | litigation | PIL | Rahul Mehra justice Rahul Mehra, litigation officer and concerned sports fan, is determined to go after the main culprits in Indian sport, its administrators. (Photo: ISHAN TANKHA) The only reason India does not have a world-class football team, is we don't have the right people running the sport, Mehra says. (Photo: AP) VK Malhotra has been president of the Archery Association for 31 years. Kalmadi has headed the Athletics Federation for 21 years. If only India's medals column were as impressive. (Photo: REUTERS) Chamber 216 is at the end of a long passage in the Delhi High Court. Its walls are lined with law books. There is a large old wooden table, the kind that makes you want to write with a fountain pen. Rahul Mehra, a 36-year-old father of two and a litigation lawyer, is too old to be out of place in a chamber like this, too young not to think about sports. More precisely, about why Indian football cannot have the same profile and following as Manchester United. There are many Indians who feel that way, but Mehra, son of senior criminal lawyer RD Mehra, is doing something about it. In 2000, he filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against the Indian cricket board questioning the body's right to be so secretive about its affairs. He won. Now the Board, though a private body, is accountable to every citizen of India. Any Indian can ask the Board questions or demand information that is of import to the general public. Mehra has since taken the whole cartel of other sports administrators to court. This PIL, filed last December, names among its respondents the Sports Authority of India, the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, the Indian Olympic Association, the Amateur Athletics Federation of India, the Badminton Association of India, the All India Chess Federation, the All India Football Federation, Hockey India, the National Rifle Association of India, the All India Tennis Association, the Indian Weightlifting Federation and the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation. Mehra would make a fine Sherlock Holmes. He is tall and slim. He has a receding hairline and an aquiline nose. What he wants from the court is elementary. He wants the right people to run sport and run it effectively. He wants officials to be elected for specific durations and not long, random tenures that are the norm in India. "It is a clear-cut objective," he says in a voice that resembles Saif Ali Khan's. "I'm sick and tired of seeing the way every sport is molested and raped by people administering it, and I say this with utmost responsibility." In a country where even personal disputes languish for years in court, wouldn't a case involving several organisations take forever? Mehra's reply is on the tip of his tongue and out before the question is completed. "Rome wasn't built in a day." The grand delivery of the statement and its rookie idealism amuse you a bit. You realise, though, that it shows a willingness to fight a long battle. Mehra's acquaintances say that this quality makes him a tricky opponent even for powerful bodies like the BCCI."It's very detailed," says Bishen Singh Bedi of Mehra's working style. "Whatever he does, he does 100 per cent," says lawyer Abhimanyu Mahajan. When he is in an argumentative flow, Mehra can get dramatic. "The court asked me to give the Board some suggestions. I gave them a Bible. If they follow everything in it, Indian cricket would be on top for 500 years," he says. For a man who can be so cocky, he is also particular about how a guest is served tea. He censures his assistant for serving it in a glass and not a cup. Depending on what he is saying and what is happening around him, his mannerisms keep changing, but what is consistent and palpable, is his outrage at the condition of Indian sport. His sincerity comes through. As he says in his 70-page writ petition, 'The petitioner is a sport lover who is distressed and alarmed at the manner in which the organizations, recognised as apex bodies for their respective sports, are functioning.' Mehra says, "I cannot understand why India cannot have a world-beating football team, I cannot. It is such a big country. There are huge regions, like Goa, Manipur, Bengal, where football is a religion and foreign clubs like Manchester United are idolised. The only reason is we don't have the right people running the sport. I don't think it is difficult to run a sport. But everyone is busy protecting his fiefdom." The writ petition seeks to ensure that federations 'do not function as the private empires of some politicians, businessmen and/or traders who have come to control it (sic) and abuse it for their own interest and profits.' (Brief digression: it also has archaic headings such as 'Most Respectfully Showeth'). The target of Mehra's outrage are the interminable tenures of administrators like the boorish Suresh Kalmadi. The petition contains a list of sports bodies and the number of years their bosses have been in office. As per the table, VK Malhotra has been the president of the Archery Association of India for 31 years. Kalmadi has been president of the Athletics Federation of India for 21 years and the Indian Olympic Association for 14 years. If only India's medals column were as impressive. Was it legally possible to defeat a system in a country where justice is slow in coming, if at all? "I think it is quite possible," Mehra says. "It is just that nobody has ever challenged the federations." Much of Mehra's confidence stems from the victory over the BCCI, achieved in 2004 after a four-year battle. "If I could do it against so powerful and cash-rich a body, I can do it against the others," he says. "My goal is to at least get the matter in the public domain. Then they (the federations) will think ten times (before any mischief). I want the federations to be under RTI (Right to Information Act). They weren't under it when I filed the petition. Only IOA was." Mehra says his case against the BCCI was "traumatic" for the delays in justice and not the Board's pressure tactics, which could not be wished away. He says the Board tried to lure him into withdrawing. "They said, 'We'll take care of you. You'll be one of our guys'." Then they tried intimidation. "There would be calls late in the night. I didn't think much of them. My logic was if someone wanted to harm me they would do it and not warn me. Also, I was not married at the time." Mehra says the BCCI then tried to hurt his career. "They tried to malign me in front of the Judiciary by filing contempt petitions against me. I said to the chief justice of Delhi High Court, 'If you think I'm a guy who is doing this out of personal vendetta, send me to jail from here'. But I'm not going to reply to their petition. The honourable judge said, 'No, Mr Mehra, please continue.' They (BCCI) did everything they could. Unfortunately for them there are some people who are driven by passion. The court saw that I meant well and had no agenda." Mehra's friend Gautam Mehta says, "Rahul is a cricket nut. We have travelled together for matches in North India. Some of the former players and administrators knew him and the BCCI case. You could sense that they admired what he was doing." Bishen Singh Bedi says, "We Indians
 
Chhetri set to debut for Kansas City Wizards - IBNLive.com Top
Seattle Post Intelligencer Chhetri set to debut for Kansas City Wizards IBNLive.com New Delhi: India forward Sunil Chhetri is all set for his Major League Soccer (MLS) debut as he has been included in Kansas City Wizards' 24-man roster for ... I'm Excited About My Debut - Kansas City Wizards Striker Sunil Chhetri Goal.com Chhetri makes debut for Wizards in loss to Rapids USA Today all 176 news articles »
 

CREATE MORE ALERTS:

Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted

Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope

Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more

News - Only the news you want, delivered!

Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more

Weather - Get today's weather conditions




You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)