Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Unruly scenes mar Netball tourney

Staff Reporter

District Collector clamps Section 144, asks organisers to vacate the premises

VIJAYAWADA: Acrimonious scenes dominated the first day of the 25th Senior National Netball championship here on Sunday. District Collector Navin Mittal clamped Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. on the premises of Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium and asked the organisers of the sport to vacate the premises.

The intervention of Mr. Mittal following a request by the "banned" Punjab men's team to gain entry into the contest kicked up a controversy. Local MP and president of Andhra Pradesh Olympic Association L. Rajagopal took up cudgels on behalf of the Netball Federation of India (NFI) giving a new twist to the whole episode.

Officials of the NFI said that the technical committee of the Federation had decided not to allow participation of Punjab team as it was "expelled for indiscipline" at ONGC Cup in Ahmedabad last year. Mr. Rajagopal alleged that a top police official in Punjab Jagdish Mittal pressurised Navin Mittal to allow the Punjab team to play in the tournament.

Meanwhile, word spread that the Collector would clamp Section 144 of the Cr.P.C and cancel the tournament.

Eviction order

The information that Municipal Commissioner Natarajan Gulzar would serve the eviction order irked the MP. He furiously remarked, "Nobody can stop this tournament. It is unfortunate that the Collector, just to please his friend in Punjab, is trying to play with the future of hundreds of players."

NFI secretary-general G.S.Sharma said, "The federation has expelled the Punjab team for misconduct."

Mr. Mittal, however, told The Hindu that disallowing a team was incorrect.

"The organisers have failed to produce documentary evidence in support of their claim of banning the Punjab team,"he observed.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Important sectors neglected: Narayana
VGTM-UDA flooded by objections to draft plan
Unruly scenes mar Netball tourney
Canines steal the show
Hotel worker dies in police lock-up
A towering `celebrity'
`Fast-learn new topics to carve bright careers'
Several TVs burn up in Krishna Lanka
Around the City
In Vijayawada Today
Reader's Mail

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu