Avik Roy
Bhubaneswar, June 13: The sports ministry has suspended all activities of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) after it got to know the existence of two factions within the body. In a letter dated June 12, written by union sports secretary AK Patro and addressed to both the factions of the BFI, the ministry has asked them not to conduct tournaments also.
“The BFI and its existing factions are hereby advised not to conduct any tournament in future till the elections are conducted properly and the office bearers are recognised by the ministry,” stated the letter.
Trouble started brewing three months ago when the two warring factions of the BFI conducted separate AGM-s at Bangalore and Pune, March 28 and 29 respectively. Two separate presidents were also chosen – Poonam Mahajan at Pune and K Govindaraj at Bangalore. However, these incidents came to the notice of the sports ministry only a few days back and it promptly decided to de-recognise both the bodies.
Ashok Sahu, the secretary of the Orissa Basketball Association (OBA) was unanimously elected as the vice-president of the BFI at the Pune AGM. He however, is not surprised at the turn of events. “I haven’t heard about the sports ministry’s decision yet. But I am not surprised. After all two bodies cannot operate under the same banner,” stated Ashok here Saturday.
Ashok also stated that the majority of the state associations (22) are with the Poonam Mahajan group. But in spite of that he is of the opinion that both the factions should sit together and find an amicable solution. “After all the game and players will suffer if factionalism rules,” he pointed out.
But then will Ashok’s good sense prevail over the others? Only time will tell.
