NEW DELHI: After taekwondo’s ‘medals on sale’ controversy, another dispute has cropped up at the ongoing National Games in Uttarakhand – this time in netball.
In a startling development, at least five bronze medal playoff matches in the men’s and women’s team sections culminated in a draw, with the event’s technical committee awarding bronze medals to each competing state, disregarding the established protocol of the sport.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!As per the rules laid down by World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation, only one bronze medal can be awarded to a winning state or team in a 3rd-4th place classification match. There can’t be two winners. In fact, in any team sports, the purpose of a playoff match is to decide a winner. It’s only in individual sports — such as boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling — where two bronze medals are awarded in each event, one for the eliminated semifinalist or the winner of repechage rounds.
In the netball competitions at the National Games, strangely bronze medals were awarded to both competing teams whose classification matches ended in a draw, sparking allegations of pre-determined results.
At least five bronze playoff matches across men, women and mixed team events culminated in a draw. Sample this: Fast 5 team event (women) Punjab 23-Assam 23), Fast 5 team event (men) Jammu and Kashmir 33-Rajasthan 33, Traditional team event (men) Delhi 45-Himachal Pradesh 45, Traditional team event (women) Uttarakhand 42-Telangana 42, Mixed team event Chhattisgarh 31-Telangana 31. All these states were awarded a bronze each by the competition director.
Remarkably, the technical committee abstained from implementing a two-minute shootout between teams following the completion of regulation time to decide the bronze winner.
The development has led to allegations that these results were orchestrated to benefit a certain set of players who would get monetary benefits from their respective state govts for being National Games medallists. It would also allegedly help them secure govt jobs in different state departments and get admissions in colleges and universities. Several states have announced cash awards for medallists at the National Games.
The development has cast a fresh shadow over the Games’ integrity after allegations of “medal fixing” in taekwondo competitions where it was reported that gold, silver and bronze medals were allegedly sold for Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh, respectively.
When TOI contacted the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), which oversees the conduct of the National Games, it assured a thorough investigation in the matter and said it would seek explanation from the Games Technical Conduct Committee (GTCC). “We will definitely look into the matter to ascertain if any wrongdoing has been done,” said an IOA official.
Hari Om Kaushik, chairman of the National Netball Development Committee (NNDC) who has previously served as the federation’s secretary general, said the competition director should have enforced a shootout to determine the winner. “We have come across such results in netball competitions and some people have raised genuine concern about it. If the matches ended in a draw, the shootout should have been enforced. Strange, it didn’t happen. We will probe the matter.”
For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the
India vs England Test match here.
Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu’s inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
Start a Conversation
Post comment