Zeecric Bureau
New Delhi: Indian Sports Minister MS Gill on Wednesday took a dig at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) by saying that the board had to decide on the team’s participation in the Asian Games.
He further said that the sport must not be a part of the Games, hinting at the fact that some sports were played for medals and glory rather than money.
“Cricket should not be a part of the Asian Games. The BCCI have to decide whether they want to participate or not. Cricketers play a lot of tournaments and are tired.”
However, he said that the views were entirely personal and were not given as a Sports Minister.
This came after the Indian Olympic Association secretary general Randhir Singh lashed out at the BCCI for not sending teams to this year’s Asian Games in China and said IOA will write to the Cricket Board tomorrow asking it to reconsider the decision.
“I’m very, very disappointed. It really hurts because we were really keen to have cricket in this multi-discipline events,” Randhir said.
“On behalf of IOA, we will write a letter to the BCCI tomorrow and ask them to reconsider their decision,” he said.Randhir, also the Secretary General of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), said the onus was now on the Asian Cricket Council to take up the matter with BCCI.
“The ACC worked really hard to get cricket included in the Asian Games. So it is ACC’s responsibility to take up the issue with the BCCI.”
“It will be a big embarrassment for OCA if India, where cricket is a religion, does not participate in the Asian Games,” Randhir said.“China built great facilities for cricket. So BCCI’s decision is unfortunate because all other cricket playing Asian countries will participate,” added Randhir.
BCCI on Tuesday cited international commitments and announced that neither the men’s nor the women’s team would go to Guangzhou which hosts the Asian Games from November 12-27.
First Published: Wednesday, June 02, 2010, 16:01