Pride of Manipur

Manipuri lifter Monika Devi selected for Beijing Olympics

New Delhi, July 15: Manipuri weightlifter L Monika Devi was today unanimously chosen ahead of Shailaja Pujari to represent the country in the Beijing Olympic Games after a selection trial in Bangalore, bringing to an end a selection controversy and allegations of bribery.

Monika, who won a silver and two bronze in the Asian Championship in Japan in April-May to help book the lone berth for India, will compete in the 69kg category while Shailaja (75kg) would be the reserve lifter.

"Monika was chosen for the Olympics by an unanimous decision of the Selection Committee. I am happy that everything went off smoothly during the trials," Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) President Harbhajan Singh said.

"Dev Dutt Sharma will accompany Monika as coach in Beijing," he added.

Monika and Shailaja were shortlisted for the final selection after an earlier trial in Pune on June 29 was followed by allegations of bribery on IWF General Secreatry B R Gulati to select Shailaja. Gulati had rubbished the allegations as "baseless".

Shailaja was also alleged to have used kneeguards, which were not permitted under IWF rules, in the Pune trial. This led to the Sports Ministry ordering probe into the bribery scandal and asking to cancel the trials besides directing to shift the trial venue from Pune to NIS, Patiala.

IWF stuck to its guns on the repeat selection trials though it shifted the venue of trial to SAI Centre, Bangalore.

Sharma's selection as coach was also against Ministry directive that a woman coach should accompany a woman lifter in Beijing.

Source: Press Trust of India

Other Stories:
Monika gets the nod
IWF selects Monika ahead of Shailaja

New Dawn for Assam Cricketers

ACA to introduce ratings like Men in Blue:

Guwahati, Dec. 17: Assam cricketers will soon be rated on the lines of the Team India players.

The apex sports body in the state hopes that the ratings will help the players by giving them more mileage in the national scene and also ease the selection of probables and teams for the state from the next season onwards.

The Assam Cricket Association officials have already discussed the proposition with a Bangalore-based private firm 5K.

The director of 5K, Rajesh Khurana, has offered to rate players in different age groups from under-15 to Ranji level on the basis of their performance in domestic as well as international levels.

The ratings will shield the players from falling victim to the ACA’s so-called “political favouritism” towards players from certain districts and the practice of “depriving” better players from some other districts.

ACA secretary Bikash Baruah said, “The ratings should help us. No player will now be able to rake up a controversy after not getting a berth in the state team as their ratings will speak for them now”.

Besides easing the pressure on players and helping players judge their own performance, the ACA hopes that the ratings will further help the players get individual sponsorship from the corporate sector.

Although India Cements has chipped in as a team sponsor for the Ranji team this year, none of the first class players have any individual sponsor for their off-season coaching and personal upkeep.

The ACA was completely bowled over by the offer made by the Bangalore firm, as it would also help the apex body sign players on contract for the under-19 and Ranji teams.

Though Khurana could not be contacted for details, sources in his office said the process has been initiated after the “ACA showed keen interest in it”.

The monetary terms offered by 5K are yet to be worked out.

The firm has been rating the Karnataka players since last year.

Though the ACA has resolved to introduce graded contracts on the lines of the national team players, for the under-19 and Ranji players from the current season onwards, the Ranji season ended without completion of even the gradation of players.

The ACA has attributed the preoccupation of BCCI statistician Tapash Roy with his hectic schedule as the reason for the delay in gradation of state cricketers this season. Roy has been asked to provide the statistics of every player to the ACA.

“If 5K does the statistician’s job for us, we will be able to execute the contract system at the earliest,” said an ACA office bearer who attended the preliminary discussion with the Bangalore firm here yesterday.

Some of the state-level players have welcomed the development, saying that they hope the new plan will not turn out to be “another ploy” to delay their proposed contracts.

Posted On: The Telegraph