Favouritism alleged in Sports Council recognition process

ABID KHAN
Srinagar, Feb 4: The J&K Sports Council has come under severe criticism for promoting 'inconsequential' sports bodies at the cost of valid ones which, according to the sports fraternity, could lead to the obliteration of some of the most important sports disciplines in the valley.Out of ten sports bodies, the Council marked three sports disciplines, Rugby, Baseball and Rifle Shooting, leaving aside, Rowing, Spak-Takraw, Shooting Ball, Motor Sports, Tri-Athlon, Bridge and Malkhamb, in its recently-held sub-committee meeting at Jammu. The Council had kept the activities of the concerned bodies under constant check for three years. Though the statuesque of the seven left-out bodies has remained unchanged and their activities would be monitored afresh, the Sports Council has paved way for the recognition of the ‘favoured’ three. Ironically, Rifle Shooting is a lesser-known sport in the state and it has baffled many a sports bodies’ officials as to how its case has received undue attention. Surprised at the exclusion of the J&K Rowing Association, general secretary, Wasim Raja, said that ‘the Council was playing a tool in the hands of its senior officials indulged in making a mint.’ “Rowing is the only sport that gave the state the Arjun award,” he said. “I am at a cross to understand why our Association has been ignored.”He accused the senior officials of the Council of running the ‘favoured’ sports bodies. “The Council secretary, P S Gill, is running the Rifle Association,” he said. “This is the reason, the Rifle Association was favoured.”He said the Council gave a handsome grant to the recognised bodies annually which is why the Council officials had floated their own associations. “The joint secretary of the Council, Abdul Rauf, is close to Rugby and Baseball Associations,” he said. “If the officials at the helm would take recourse to nepotism, the future of sports in the state is quite dark.”He said Rowing was an Olympic sport and had tremendous potential in the state. “The state, in spite of the next-to-nothing infrastructure, secured 6th place in the 33rd National Games held in Guwahatti, Assam in 2007,” he said. “Moreover, it comes under the ambit of SRO 349 wherein a medal-winning player is entitled to a government job.”He said only eight teams across India were qualified to take part at the national level. “Our team is due to participate in the 34th National Games due to be held in June this year at Jharkhand.”He said the sport had given the state a respectable name in the country. “The only Arjun Awardee of the state is Major General, Muhammad Amin Naik, of Tral who won the medal at the Asian Games in 1982,” he said. “He has also won over half a dozen medals at different international events and over 30 medals at the national level.”He said the Rowing Association was affiliated with the Human Resource Development ministry, recognised body, the Rowing Federation of India. “We make a strong case for the recognition,” he said while demanding CM’s intervention in setting the Council matters right.He said Rifle Shooting was an ‘insignificant’ sport in the state. “It is a high-profile sport and out of reach for the normal folks,” he said. “No competition has been held in the sport ever.”Questioning the wisdom of preferring Rugby and Baseball to Rowing, Raja said both sports were conspicuously invisible from the state scene. “The state owing to numerous water bodies can produce sportspersons in bulk,” he said. “Contrastingly Rugby and Baseball is being played in a few districts in the state.”He said despite winning medals, the Rowing suffered from the lack of infrastructure here. “Not a single rowing boat is available to us,” he said. “We organise our coaching at Taran Taran in Punjab at our own cost and the Council ‘rewarded’ by sideling us blatantly.”

published in ngreater kashmir on Febuary 5: link: http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=5_2_2009&ItemID=11&cat=4

Snow Cycling mesmerizes everyone

Abid Khan
Srinagar, Feb 4: The newly introduced adventure sport, snow cycling remained centre of attraction for everyone in the Gulmarg on the occasion of Gulmarg Snow Festival on Wednesday.
From early morning Tuesday, 20 cyclists who had come from Srinagar to take part in the snow cycling competition were centre of attraction and everyone was puzzled how the cycles are running on snow. It was third straight year that snow cycling was being held in the festival but for many people who were witnessed it first time were not believing on their eyes that cyclists are riding on snow with such ease.
Apart from spectators and tourists cyclists were also attracting the media personal who gathered in Gulmarg to cover the festival.
The demoralizing factor for cyclists was that they had to wait for more than two and half hours amid continuing snowfall for flag at start line. The minister was first in snow-rink and then out of fixture went to Knogdoori to see snowboarding. During that time the cyclist were feeling cold and did not know what to do.
Finally when the Minister came and flagged off the race. All the riders rushed out with full speed without caring for the slippery surface. The route was from ski-shop to Gulmarg Club via Royal Park hotel that was amounting to total distance of 6-kilometers.
The first riders who took the lead from rest were Ubaid Shah and Hilal Ahmad but only two kilometers after Ubaid’s chain broke down and Hilal started to feel fatigue. The track of the race had become tougher due to the fresh snow that had accumulated on surface. But despite all odds the cyclists continued race. On first it looked like that Riyaz Ahmad will cruise to victory easily but as the finish line approached riders behind him sprinted hard and finished ahead of him by fraction of second.
Mudasir Ahmad of Fort City Sports Club finished with the timing of 10:11:23 while as Ghulam Rasool Kawa of Discovery Club, timing 10:24:30 and Anzil Mukhtar of AS College, timing 10:30:13 finished second and third respectively.
Riyaz Ahmad of Fort City Sports Club finished fourth.
The first position holder said that it was not easy to take part in the event and get position ahead of the known cyclist of valley.
He said, “I participating first time in the event and in my maiden triumph I cam out as winner. It was easy to ride on snow but I kept my cool and despite few falls I managed to win race.”
Since being introduced in 2006 during snow festival, snow festival has became huge hit around the world. Both tourism department and J&K Cycling Association has got number of queries regarding it from around world.
For participating in the event riders used imported Mountain Biking Cycles (MTB) equipped with advanced gears, which helped riders to do cycling on snow.“Apart from techniques we use special imported MTB cycles which are equipped with special gears that help us to do cycling on snow”. “The cycles are costly and second hand come in the range of 30-50 thousand” said NIS cycling coach Ghulam Rasool Kawa

Snow Festival begins at Gulmarg

Urgent need to upgrade winter sport infrastructure: Jora
Abid Khan
Srinagar, Feb 3: With fresh fall of snow J&K Tourism, Nawang Rigzin Jora inaugurated the much awaited annual two-day Gulmarg Snow festival amid much fanfare at the world famous ski resort Gulmarg on Tuesday.
The department is organizing the festival from last four years in order top woo the tourists from all over world to the ski resort. The event was scheduled to be organized on Christmas Eve on December 24 and 25 last year but due to certain reasons it got number of delays and finally started on Tuesday. In the festival there are number of attractions for wooing winter sport lovers like snow cycling, snow rugby, skiing, ice-skating, ice-hockey, skido race, ski-cross country race, sledge race and snow boarding. Besides the sporting events, many cultural programmes are also being held to entertain the tourists.
Tourism Minister who was chief guest on the occasion said that there is an urgent need to develop Gulmarg up to the international standards on which we will chalk out strategy soon.
He said, “It is no hidden truth that the facilities and infrastructure here in Gulmarg is no match to international standards. If we want more and more tourists to come to Gulmarg we need to develop it by increasing the facilities for skiers”. “ This year the number of foreign tourists is around 200 and that is very low. That I think mostly due to the Mumbai incident.”
About the festival he said that this year the festival is being organized on low scale and that probably was due to the elections and the other administrative hiccups.
“ From last many years snow festival has been the main tourist attraction but this year it is on low key affair. There are number of reasons for that but the main reason was elections” he said. “Despite that we had laucnhced massive media campaign in national television channels for promotion of this festival and we think we have succeeded in our agenda by attracting tourists especially for festival.”
Minister also said that promotion and upgrading of winter sports infrastructure need lot of funds and for that he has discussed things with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
He said “We need lot of things for making Gulmarg world class winter sports attraction and for that I have discussed things with Chief Minister and he has assured me that all possible things would be done to promote our best winter sports destination”. “ it is has been only 20 or more days for me in the tourism ministry but in future I assure you that the difference and change would be visible to all.”
The day began with the demonstration matches of ice-skating and ice hockey in the Gulmarg, Ice Rink that were watched by large number of spectators which include the trainees who are organizing skiing courses through. After that Minister flagged off the Snow Cycling race at Gulmarg Ski-Shop.
From Ice-Rink the got shifted to Gulmarg club were the demonstration matches of Snow Rugby, martial art, sledge race, skido race was being held.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Director Tourism, Farooq Shah said that the festival is being organized to demonstrate our winter sports and tourism potential to world.
He said, “The aim is to attract more and more participants for winter sports as well as the tourists for whom Gulmarg has always been a dream winter destination. It is as that the activities have not being going on here from last two months, they have been going on in full swing”. “We have many events like ice skating, ice hockey, snow rugby, snow cycling, snow bike racing and martial arts on the schedule.”
About Gulmarg and flow of tourists he said, “ Gulmarg is the cheapest winter sports destination in the world and we are getting queries from far and wide across the world. The flow of tourists this year has not been that huge due to certain reasons but still it is good.”
The festival will continue on Wednesday and many competitions of skiing would be held.

published in greater kashmir on ............febuary 4: link : http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=4_2_2009&ItemID=2&cat=4

AIFF selects valley duo for B-level AFC course

ABID KHAN

Srinagar, Jan 2: The All India Football Federation has selected two young NIS coaches of the valley, Sajid Yusuf Dar and Hilal Ahmad Parray, for the B-level Asian Football Confederation coaching course scheduled to be held at Chennai from February 22nd to March 15. Asian Football Confederation licenseIt is for the first time that valley’s coaches would be taking part in the B-license course. After qualifying it, they would become the first coaches from state to get an Asian Federation Confederation B-license. The duo was recommended by J&K Football Association to AIFF for the course. They were the only coaches meeting the criteria set by the AIFF for B-level course. Two years back, both did the C-license course and have been active in coaching field.Sajid had secured first position in the C-license course held at Ludhiana in 2006 while Hilal had secured second place.Hailing the selection of the coaches, the JKFA general secretary, S A Hameed, said that it was a matter of pride for the state football. “The AIFF had sought the list of eligible candidates for course,” he said. “We’re happy the duo has made it to the selection.”Sajid Yusuf Dar belongs to the family of footballers which has given the state the names like Muhamad Yusuf Dar. Sajid got his diploma from the National Institute of Football, Patiala in 2003-2004. Soon after, he took various coaching assignments, training Kashmir University’s football team for the North Zone Inter-university championship held in the valley. His other assignments included training players of the JKFA and Sports Council. He was involved in the youth development football programs. Representing the state in two Santosh trophy tournaments, Sajid is currently coach of the KU’s football team. He is also involved with many private clubs like Iqbal Sports and Tyndale Biscoe School. He was also elected president of Dalgate Sports Fraternity. Hilal is also a qualified coach with an NIS diploma of 2003-2004. He has been a part of the JK Bank football team as assistant coach since 2004 and has played a major role in many wins such as Sikkim Gold Cup, II-Division National League, LG Cup and many other national and state level tournaments. He represented the state in two Santosh Trophy tournaments.To develop the level of football in India, the AIFF organizes different programs in collaboration with AFC and these license courses constitute are a part of the program. The course involves theory and practical training. B-license qualified coach is eligible to train national level teams.

published in greater kashmir on January 3 : link: http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=3_2_2009&ItemID=5&cat=4

Gulmarg snow festival rescheduled again

ABID KHAN
Srinagar, Feb 1: Confused as it seems, the Tourism department has been changing the date of its much-hyped snow festival at Gulmarg many times over and the officials have now decided to reschedule it on February 3 and 4 after postponing the event by two days.The festival was earlier scheduled to be held last year on December 24 and 25 on Christmas Eve, but the department decided to organize it in the second week of January this year. The director Tourism had cited low snowfall as the reason to delay the festival.Unable to hold the event in the second week of January, the department quickly rescheduled the festival for the February 3 and 4 but only few days before they postponed it by two days to February 5 and 6, citing death of former president of India N Vanktaragawan as the reason. Funnily, the department on Saturday announced the festival would be held on February 3 and 4. When the director Tourism was asked why the department was not able to finalize dates for the last one and half month, he said. “Snow festival doesn’t mean winter activities are not taking place in Gulmarg. It is just a festival which helps us to promote Gulmarg across the world. We had to postpone the event because of the death of former president of India.”However, the players and the sports-lovers have an entirely different argument. “The Tourism department was awaiting the approval of the chief minister to be the chief guest of the occasion,” said a skier Ubaid Shah. “It is all an appeasement exercise. The department kept on inventing excises only to please the new government.”He said there was a plenty of snow in Gulmarg in December and there is no veracity in the argument that “there was low snowfall in December. “The department waited for the oath ceremony of the chief minister,” he said. “Even after the formation of the government, they were not able to get dates from the chief minister.”Another skier, Iqbal Ahmad of Srinagar, said that by delaying the annual festival by one and half-month, the department had sent wrong message across world.

Sports lover CM skis down from Apharwat

Srinagar, Feb 1: Sports-lover chief minister, Omar Abdullah, demonstrated some skiing skills by skiing down from the high Apharwat slopes in Gulmarg on Sunday. The youngest chief minister of state Sunday visited the world famous ski resort Gulmarg to take stock of the facilities made available for the tourists. He chose to ski down from the second phase of the world’s highest cable car lift situated at an altitude of over 13,000 feet from the sea level. Alongside him, was the valley’s only Olympian, Gul Mustafa, besides other skiers of the valley. “It was really great to see the chief minister skiing down successfully from Apharwat,” Gul said.

published in greater kashmir on February 2: links;;http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=2_2_2009&ItemID=3&cat=4,

Sports fraternity smells rat in recently announced state awards

'GOVERNMENT LOOKS AT KASHMIRI PLAYERS WITH JAUNDICED EYE’

ABID KHAN
Srinagar, Jan 29: Criticising the selection of three players from the Jammu province as against one from the valley for the recently announced state awards, the sports fraternity of the valley has flayed the government for ignoring sports stars of the valley, even as the Sports Council had included the prominent footballer Me’raj-ud-Din Wadoo in the nomination list. The government, on 26 January, announced state awards for 17 persons for their contribution in various fields of life including four sportspersons: Mitali—a 12th grade student— in Gymnastics, Ram Singh Slathia, in mountaineering and Ajay Sharma in table tennis and Gul Mustafa Dev in skiing. Of the four sportspersons chosen for the awards, three belong to Jammu while as, Gul Mustafa—the only Olympian from the valley— belongs to the valley. Ironically, it took the government 20 years to recognise his contribution. Senior member of the J&K Football Association, Fayaz Ahmad Sofi, said that Jammu players were preferred over Kashmiri players: “The council and the bureaucrats in secretariat favour Jammu players,” he said. “The awards are given only when it is ensured that Jammu players feature in the list, otherwise, they are not given at all.” He said it was an irony that valley players had to wait 15-20 years for the award while Jammu players were awarded within one year only. He said of the three Jammu players who figured in the list, the performance of two was genuine while as the third had no worthwhile achievement. “Mitali is a class 12th student and her performance in gymnastics was brilliant last year,” he said. “Similarly Ram Singh Salathia climbed the Everest last year. Both have been awarded within just a year of their performance.” He said the third awardee, Ajay Sharma, a table tennis player had ‘nothing’ to his credit when compared with the likes of some of the great stars of the valley whose contribution to the sports could not be ignored. “The extent of discrimination can be measured by the fact that the valley stars, such as, Gul Mustafa Dev and Majid Kakroo, were awarded after 20 and 15 years,” he said. “Other stars, known for their excellence in different fields within the country and outside as well, have blatantly been discredited. He said that the awards were being given in the low-profile games and the popular sports like football were carefully sidelined. “This is done because the valley players would make a complete sweep in hi-profile games such as football, cricket, skiing etc,” he said. He said the dictatorial role played by the Council members set in hegemony within this sports body resulting in favouritism, nepotism and corruption. The J&K Sports Development Association secretary, Riyaz Ahmad, said that irregularities in conferring state awards reflect total bias of the government. “What have they achieved,” he asked referring to the performance of the Jammu players. “Their performance is nothing before the excellence of the players like Wadoo, Ishfaq, Zahoor Latoo, Kuldeep Honda.” “Wadoo who is a regular member of the Indian team, is the biggest star of the state,” he said. “As part of the Indian team, he proved his mettle time and again in SAFF Cup, Nehru Cup and AFC Cup. Apart from the Indian team, he is a regular member of East Bengal football club of Kolkatta.” Of Ishfaq, he said, “he has represented India on numerous occasions and is currently a member of India’s oldest football club, Mohan Bagan. He is their main striker along with Baichung Bhutia and Barrreto.” He said the achievements of Kuldeep Hondo were unparalleled in martial arts. “He won medals at numerous international and national events,” he said. “He has also excelled in his coaching assignment and has been the coach of Indian Junior Wu-Shu team recently which won medals at various events.” About Zahoor Latoo, he said, he was the international Kayaking star of the valley. “He has won over 30 national medals for the state in various water sport events,” he said. “In the 33rd national games held at Guwahatii, Assam, he won three medals for the state.” He said Mitali was chosen for the award for a similar achievement. “She was given a lot of monetary assistance and educational benefits by the state,” he said. “God knows whether the award committee knew Zahoor or not.” He said apart from those chosen by the government, Kashmir had numerous international stars, who have deserved honours more than any body else. The Dalgate Sports Fraternity, president, Sajid Yusuf, said that the government looks at Kashmiri players with a jaundiced eye. “It is not only this time the government preferred Jammu players to the valley-based,” he said. “This has been happening for the past many years.” The secretary Sports Council, PS Gill, told Greater Kashmir that the General Administration Department chose the players for the awards upon the Council recommendations. “The Council has nothing to do with the selection,” he said. “We had recommended Me’raj-ud-Din Wadoo but the GAD thought his achievements were not good enough for the award.” Efforts to contact the GAD could not materialise.

published in greater kashmir on January 31 link : http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=31_1_2009&ItemID=4&cat=4

Gulmarg festival to showcase snow-cycling

Srinagar, Jan 29: Snow-cycling which has been a part of the Gulmarg Snow Festival for the past two years, is expected to draw huge attention from the foreign and local tourists this year. The JK Tourism department has included snow cycling in its annual snow festival scheduled to be held at the world famous ski resort Gulmarg, Kashmir. The department on Tuesday is learnt to have handed over an invitation letter to the J&K Cycling Association to organize snow cycling event on the first day of the 2-day festival. The department would take a team comprising 15 members including a coach and manager to Gulmarg from Srinagar on February 2.

The event is expected to be a grand success. “It would be full of adventure and fun,” joint secretary of the Association, Riyaz Ahmad Wani, said. “Thirteen cyclists will ride imported cycles with gears attached to them. It is not easy to ride cycles on the soft and slippery slopes, therefore, the cyclists will be using extraordinary machines.” A cyclist himself, Riyaz said there was a high degree of risk involved in this adventure sport and the participants could get badly injured if the cyclists lacked proper training. “Our cyclists would be equipped with safety systems like special helmets made of carbon-fibre and would be wearing full cycling uniform, he said. “Apart from the safety gears, they will rely on their training which they have been undergoing for the past one month.” He said he urged the Tourism department to include snow-cycling event in the festival in 2006. “The department warmly responded to the offer and since then snow-cycling is one of the important events in the festival,” he said. “Within a short time, we received numerous queries from around the world.” He said the Association, owing to the overwhelming response, organised many downhill races from Gulmarg to Tangmarg during the last three years. The Tourism department will organise various winter sports and cultural programmes in its festival including ski race, cycling race, skido race and sledging. Apart from local participants foreign tourists will participate in various races. The festival is expected to draw huge crowds of foreign and domestic tourists.