The Hindu : Sport : SAAP `seals' APFA's office room

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 18, 2006

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

SAAP `seals' APFA's office room

HYDERABAD : The Andhra Pradesh Football Association's office room was `sealed' by the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) on Friday.

Apparently peeved at the indifferent attitude of the officials running the Association, and lack of activity for the last two years, the top brass of SAAP convened a meeting which was also attended by Mr. L. Venkatram Reddy, secretary of AP Olympic Association, and thereafter informed the APFA members that their room would be locked till elections were held.

In fact, it was revealed that eviction notice was served on the APFA after it sent a circular asking the different District Associations and the Departmental teams warning them not to take part in the Chief Minister's Cup to be held next month.

"More than that, they gave us a false impression by letting the signboard remain which stated that Mr. A.K. Khan, IPS, is president of APFA. As a matter of fact, when we checked with Mr. Khan, he remarked that he had resigned long back and has nothing to do with the APFA activities now," an official of SAAP explained.

Moreover, the APFA was clearly told by SAAP that it was not obligatory for it to give the same office in future for it to function. "We can give any other suitable room for APFA," he added.

Meanwhile, SAAP had also issued a circular to all the State Sports Associations to see that elections were held in a democratic manner and if any association was found wanting on this front, it would not be entitled to get any benefits from the Government.

"For instance, we came to know that the AP Tennis Association has not had elections for more than a decade now. So, we made it clear that elections should be held and only then the SAAP grants would be released," the official said.

Football league

Ranga Reddy District Football Association will organise the annual league championship from February 18 to 21 at Valerian School Grounds. Twelve teams will vie for top honours in the league.

The groupings:

Group I: Alwal Youth Club, Sashidhar Soccer Club, HCL Colony.

Group II: Valluvarnagar Club, Bhavan's Club and Vivekanandapuram FC.

Group III: AP Sports School, Jawahar Soccer Club and SMFC.

Group IV: Rainbow Club, YMDA and Kamalanehru Nagar.

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