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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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Straight talk by Lal Gunesekera Dangerous bill passed in Parliament NOC officials for 'Life'? The National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka President, Hemasiri Fernando, is reported to have admitted that he "acts like a dictator" when he handles NOC matters, but will conduct its annual general meeting like a "true democrat". What a statement for him to make. The NOC's annual general meeting has been fixed for November 14. Fernando will contest for the third term. He says that the Interim Committee governing Swimming, Cycling, Taekwondo and Wrestling, will not be permitted to vote at the NOC annual general meeting, but allowed in as "observers". Now, a bill was passed in Parliament which allows the NOC officials to be in office "for life" and select their "catches" to sit on the Executive Committee. This is a very dangerous matter, and how it got through the eyes of Youth Affairs and Sports Minister, Jeewan Kumaratunga, is baffling. Saman Jayasinghe who heads the National Sports Council raised objections to the constitution of the NOC being amended at one stage, and he told me so. How did it by-pass him this time? Are they dumb? Why don't the high powered Cricket Committee of the Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) make known their feelings about the increase of teams from 16 to 20 for the forthcoming Premier League Championship for 2005-06? Are they a bunch of spineless individuals who are scared of speaking out? Are they merely "Yes Men" to members of the Interim Committee? It seems so. Otherwise why have they not stood up to their earlier feelings which were known to all and sundry. Some years back, a majority of the persons now serving in this Cricket Committee were even against 16 teams playing in the Premier League Championships and made known that certain clubs were not suitable to play in the top league. Why don't they speak out now? This Cricket Committee includes former cricketers of repute and even some former Sri Lanka captains. It consists of Michael Tissera (present Manager of the Sri Lanka team), Bandula Warnapura, Duleep Mendis (CEO of SLC), Sidath Wettimuny, Ranjan Madugalle (chief Match Referee of ICC), Roshan Mahanama and even Arjuna Ranatunga (Sri Lanka's World Cup winning captain now a Deputy Minister in the UPFA Government). The Tournament Committee seems to have finally given into pressure and promoted four clubs (Baduraliya, Saracens, Singha and Lankan SC) to play in the Premier League Championships. These four clubs reached the semi-finals of the Division I Segment 'B' for the Saravanamuttu Trophy last season (2004-05). These games were unable to be worked off on schedule due to the 'Boxing Day' tsunami. High handedness Remember the "big wig" from Baduraliya SC who attempted and failed to "muscle" his way past the security personnel at the Premadasa Stadium at the recent Indian Oil Cup Triangular final between Sri Lanka and India? Well, this very same individual with high connections with the Interim Committee members was alleged to have threatened cricketers to join his club to play in the Premier Championships, offering them money and employment. Now comes the news that he is making attempts to nudge out two other clubs from practising at the nets of a school ground in the metropolis by going to the extent of informing this school authorities that SLC will "do up" the five nets at the school grounds if his team is allowed to practise at this venue. Will he get his way in the end again? Sebs too suffer The Sebastianites too have lost five of their cricketers (Amal Dalugoda, Nuwan Shiroman, Suranjith Silva, Pubudu Ranasinghe and Pubudu Seneviratne) to Baduraliya SC who will turn out now for the team from the Kalutara District. They have been "bought over". I understand that they have been promised Rs. 1 lakh each, while an under-23 cricketer also from the Sebastianites (Amila Sandaruwan) too has been tapped, promising employment. Behind the moves is none other than a "famous" member of the National Development Committee of SLC. Earlier, four cricketers from the CCC (Michael Van Dort, Lanka de Silva, Damith Hunukumbura and Suresh Perera) were "bought over" by Baduraliya, while Pasan Wanasinghe of Moors, too being approached. Altogether 15 players have been "bought over", while those cricketers who had represented Baduraliya in the past are "up in arms" about the entire affair. Where do these cricketers stand? Stands firm Four Sri Lanka cricketers (Avishka Gunawardene, Russel Arnold, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof) continue to be adamant and are refusing to sign their contracts with SLC for the 2005-06 season. They were offered US Dollars 2000 maximum each, which they have turned down flat, although eight other cricketers who were in their category, signed the contracts after quite a lot of hesitation. Six cricketers categorised into Group 'A' will earn US Dollars 60,000 a year, three in Group 'D' US Dollars 15,000 each, while two in Group 'E' will earn US Dollars 10,000. They have all signed their contracts with SLC. Malinga Bandara who turned out for Gloucestershire in the English County Championships (he was adjudged the Player of the Year of Gloucester) too is in the same category with the four "rebels", have not signed his contract as he is still away in England, and what he decides on his return is left to be seen. The Secretary of the Interim Committee of SLC, Triphone Mirando, says that the cricketers were categorised by the selectors on their performances of the previous season and if the "rebels" perform well this season, they will be eligible to get a higher amount. What is the Cricketers Association doing on this matter? Why aren't they negotiating this deadlock between the four cricketers and SLC? Tannu in Police custody Mumbai's Deepa Bar dancing queen, Tarannum Khan (known as Tannu), who is involved in a cricket betting scandal where two Sri Lanka cricketers are also allegedly involved, was arrested on September 16 and was held in Police custody till September 28. She was booked under the Information Technology Act apart from charges of illegal gambling and criminal conspiracy. Bollywood actor, Aditya Pancholi, who had introduced Muttiah Muralitharan to the Deepa Dance Bar where Tannu is employed, too was questioned and the indian sleuths had even interrogated the partner of the Deepa Dance Bar, Sudhakar Shetty, too for six hours last week. Ever since the Income-Tax authorities raided Tannu's palatial residence in Mumbai where Rs. 10 million in cash and Rs. 3 million in jewellery was found and seized, Shetty, was absconding, but responded to Police summons and appeared before the Crimes Branch Unit III of the Mumbai Police for questioning. Shetty had taken the bar in suburban Vile-Parle on "leave and licence" and made certain modifications including carving out a "VIP Conference Room" where high profile customers were entertained. After earning money from the Deepa Dance Bar, Shetty, entered the construction business and even floated a real estate company. He also invested in the film industry and part-financed the Hindi blockbusters "Dus" and "No Entry". He was also known to bail out producers from financial crises. Two bookies (Pradip Parmar and Milind Dhivaj Nandu), who are also believed to be close associates of Shetty, too were arrested and questioned at length. Investigations are continuing with the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit too moving in. Murali-Hair confrontation again The Muttiah Muralitharan - Darrel Hair confrontation will resume again soon when Sri Lanka's spinning wizard represents a World XI against Australia in three One-Day Internationals and a Test match in Australia. Hair has been named as one of the umpires to officiate in the Second and third One-Day Internationals on October 7 and 9 in Melbourne. The other game is on October 5, while the Test at Sydney is from October 14 to 19. The other umpires in the panel are Aleem Dar of Pakistan, Rudi Koertzen of South Africa and Simon Taufel of Australia. The Match Referee for all games is none other than Sri Lanka's respected Ranjan Madugalle, who heads the ICC's Match Referees Panel. It will be recalled that Hair 'called' Murali for "chucking" seven times during the Second Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Melbourne in 1995, and since then, Murali has not toured Australia, even skipping the two Tests in Darwin and Cairns last year (2004). Murali has been cleared by medical experts and the ICC too have approved of his bowling action. He broke Courtney Walsh (West Indies) record for the highest number of Test wickets. He has now claimed 563, but Australia's Shane Warne has got ahead with 623 wickets so far. It will be interesting to see how Hair will react, as he has written in a book that he continues to believe that Murali "chucks". However, he cannot call Murali for "throwing". He has to first inform the Match Referee who in turn will refer the matter to the ICC. Thus, Murali, should have no fears at all about Darrel Hair, the Australian umpire. What action Jeevan? What action has the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Jeevan Kumaratunga, taken on the recommendations made by the Presidential Investigation Unit (PIU) to "suspend without pay" four officials attached to his Ministry for violating tender procedure, favours in allocating tenders resulting in heavy losses to the Ministry and various other malpractices? Four other officials were also "rebuked", including the Director-General of the Ministry, Milton Amarasinghe. The PIU also alleged rampant corruption in the administration of the Sports Development Department headed by Amarasinghe. Why the delay in taking action Mr. Minister or have the "charges" been withdrawn by the PIU? |
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