India not to take part in women's world team squash championship
Chennai:India on Monday pulled out of the Women's World Team Squash Championship scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from December 15 to 20 due to "lack of preparation time" and "uncertainties" about travelling amid the COVID-19 pandemic.SRFI secretary general and former national coach Cyrus Poncha said the decision was taken after consulting with the top players.
"Due to uncertainties regarding guidelines for the safe travel of our athletes and staff for national & international tournaments (yet to be obtained from the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) & Sports Authority of India (SAI)), coupled with lack of preparation time and match readiness of athletes, and after consulting our top players, the SRFI has decided to withdraw from the championship," he said in a press release.
The WSF and Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) have been constantly monitoring the scenario arising out of the global health crisis.Considering the August 15 deadline, the SRFI had requested the WSF for an extension for registration which was not given, the release said.
"The SRFI is also waiting for guidelines from the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) & Sports Authority of India (SAI) for international participation with top priority being safety and security of the players and staff for any international event," it said.
The coronavirus case count continues to rise in the country with Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai -- all major squash centres -- badly hit by the virus, making resumption of training difficult.
"As the situation develops and improves, SRFI in consultation with the Sports Ministry and SAI will take necessary steps for resuming sport in the country in compliance with the SOPs that would be brought out along with any further development required for squash," the governing body said.
The Asian Junior Individual Championship 2020 has also been cancelled by the Asian Squash Federation due to the pandemic. The event was scheduled to be held at Qingdao, China in June but was postponed to December before being finally cancelled.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in sporting events across the globe being either cancelled or rescheduled.The Tokyo Olympics in Japan was also postponed to next year due to the dreaded disease.
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Notices issued to Himachal conductor, driver for anti-Rahul Gandhi audio clip playing in govt bus
Shimla, Nov 30: After finding itself in soup over a CID enquiry on "missing samosas", the Himachal Pradesh government is again in a tight spot for issuing notices to a state roadways conductor and driver after an audio clip with defamatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was allegedly played in their bus.
A man in his complaint to the Chief Minister's Office said defamatory words were used against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders in an audio clip which was played in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus plying between Shimla and Sanjauli on November 5.
In a letter to the conductor and driver of the bus on November 25, the HRTC sought explanation from them. The letter went viral on the internet.
Talking to reporters on Friday, HRTC Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur said a routine complaint was received from a customer after which a fact finding enquiry was initiated. The enquiry was closed as the allegations were found baseless.
However, the wording of the explanation sought could have been better and the officers have been verbally conveyed to improve in the coming times, he added.
The defamatory words were allegedly used in a debate being played in the audio clip.
Reacting sharply to the letter, BJP MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma, said the government should appoint marshals to stop audios being played in buses.
"Such decisions of the government are damaging the reputation of the state government as well as the state," he added.
Earlier, the state CID department had ordered an internal enquiry on the samosas which were brought for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu during a function and by mistake were served to the his security staff. A senior police official had termed the faux pas as an anti-CID and ant-Government act.
