Services tidal wave engulfs rowing event

Hyderabad: In an unprecedented situation that could spell trouble for water sports in general, and rowing in particular, the 34th National Rowing championship that began at Hussainsagar Lake here on Wednesday will be without its biggest name-Services.

The aura of Services rowers has been such that following the unfortunate absence every other team is smelling wins of the unexpected kind!
It goes without saying that they have not only dominated Indian waters but have won laurels on the global front with their conquests and exploits.

However, this time around, the ongoing championship has lost its sheen after Services pulled-out at the eleventh hour. The reason is genuine on the face of it-they are crying foul of the decision taken by the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) at its AGM to suspend Corps of Engineers (CoE) from participation on the grounds that it ‘was not a member of the Federation.’

Services is expressing solidarity with the suspended outfit, although it is somewhat unfortunate that they decided to withdrawn from competition after confirming its participation. According to M V Sriram, Secretary, RFI, ‘‘it is an unhappy situation that Services is out of the open championship. And the decision was informed by E-mail. Of course, there are 19 State and 317 participants.”

He said “Army should have come. Moreover, we are yet to be informed about the reasons for their pulling out. There are different issues and you cannot pass order. In the last AGM, we took a decision against one particular association which was not supposed to be the member of our Federation according to rules.

They took the decision and that is nothing to do with the participation. All I can say is that the development does not augur well for their rowers,” he said. Apparently, this is also the Olympic year and the stakes are considerably enormous. “There are so many rowers from the Army who have been practicing for two to three years for this championship.

I wonder how such players can be handed a disastrous end to their dreams and aspirations. You are actually cheating with their lives. The Government is spending money to train rowers and they are getting salary to row and if you stop them from participating it is unfortunate” he said. On whether they are contemplating any action against the Army for this unsavoury development, he said “our EC will decide on this issue.”

Sriram, a former rower who has also coached the 1982 Asian Games contingent, said the logic was plain and simple. “If the army players do not attend the national camp then they will be not sent for international events. The Government orders will be binding on us at RFI." The championship is in troubled waters, the bravado of the organising committee notwithstanding.

TS rowers dazzle

Six teams of Telangana State qualified for the semifinals of the 34th Open National Rowing championship at Hussainsagar Lake here on Wednesday. They include-Heats: Women: Pair: Sita, Laxmiprasanna; Fours: Pavitra, Hemalatha, Lavanya, archana; Scull: Gitanjali; Men: Four: Sunul, Sai raju, Maheshwar Reddy, Satish; Pair: Koteswara rao, Naveen; Under- 21: Double Scull: Munna, Srikanth.