HYDERABAD: Soft tennis, bowling, modern pentathlon, rugby, karate-do. Well, these are not sports to be included in the 2006 Doha Asian Games but they figure in the priority list of 50 disciplines under the sports quota admissions to professional colleges in the State.

And, the officials of Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh screening the 420 applications for admission to medical colleges (for which only 17 seats are available under the 0.5 per cent quota as per the G.O.) are perplexed about this scenario.

"Have you ever heard of rugby and karate-do nationals?" they ask as certificates have been submitted for admission pertaining to these disciplines. They have requested the Indian Olympic Association to help them ascertain the facts. The onus is on SAAP to validate the certificates but SAAP is in a quandary.

These sports do not have any State Associations affiliated to the APOA. "How can they include disciplines in which no one has control," argues Mr. L. Venkatram Reddy, secretary of APOA. "We have been requesting them to involve us during the drafting stage to avoid such situations," he says.

SAAP officials, headed by N. C. Mohan, Deputy Director, have been scrutinising the applications. They will have to place them before the Governing Board of EAMCET on July 29 so that the eligible candidates are considered for admission. P.R. Mohan, former Chairman of SAAP, says that SAAP should have publicised the order for the benefit of prospective candidates. For instance, amendments to the G.O. Ms. No. 27 issued on June 29 state that the sports qualification acquired during the period between Intermediate examination and EAMCET shall also be taken into consideration for extending sports quota since both are qualifying examinations for admissions into professional colleges.

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