Geet Sethi is involved in a project named Olympic Gold Quest Sports Foundation. He is teaming up with badminton legend Prakash Padukone, and the two are striving to arrange funds to assist Indian sportspersons with Olympic medal prospects.
Geet Sethi put his finger on the pulse of India’s aspirations and realities about the Olympic Games, while talking at a symposium on Beijing Olympics 2008 in Mumbai. “Rajyavardhan Rathore (Athens Olympics silver medallist in men’s double trap shooting) has been fantastic for India. We need a gold medal in Beijing from any of our participants, be it shooters or from any sport. By the time the 2012 Olympics comes, India will be talking in terms of five Olym pic medals,” said the former world billiards champion.
He was one of the speakers at the function organised by the Sports Journalists Federation of India at the CCI. The other dignitaries were sprinter Ashwini Nachappa, badminton doubles ace Uday Pawar and boxing administrators Kishen Narsi and Jay Kowli.
Rathore won the country’s first ever shooting medal at Athens. Four years later in the run-up to Beijing, nine internationals have made the Olympics quota with their performances in various shooting events organised at the world level. Sethi referred to the spill over effect on Indian sports once there is a world beater in our midst.
“We need to get a Viswanathan Anand, we need a Rathore. We need to get the pioneers, the path-breakers like these two,” said the cue ace, pointing out how one Wilson Jones infused a can-do attitude in generations of Indian billiards and snooker players. The Pune-born and Mumbai-based Jones was crowned the 1958 World billiards champion. He repeated the feat in 1964.
Sethi referred to the stream of world champions from India in cue sports since then, stressing that a similar revolution is possible from the Olympic participants. “We have the force. I am talking from experience. In cue sport, Wilson Jones gave us the spark with a world title. Others like Michael Ferreira, Om Agrawal, Geet Sethi, Yasin Merchant, Pankaj Advani, Rupesh Shah followed by winning world titles,” said the cueist, a world billiards champ in 1985 in Dublin.
Women billiards aces Anuja Thakur and Chitra Magimairaj emerged world beaters in 2005 and 2007 respectively. “The need is for a collective effort that goes into competing at the Olympic level. We need to make heroes of those who have qualified for Beijing.”
The Indian billiards ace is involved in a project named Olympic Gold Quest Sports Foundation. He is teaming up with badminton legend Prakash Padukone, and the two are striving to arrange funds to assist Indian sportspersons with Olympic medal prospects. “I have been meeting people across the nation and experienced fantastic emotions. There is a sense of pride in people wanting to help realise the Indian dream of an Olympic gold. People from all walks of life want to help. I met a carpenter who handed over Rs. 2000. I met a corporate chief willing to contribute in lakhs,” said Sethi, pointing to the need for cash at the right time.
“We need to give them (Olympians preparing for Beijing) money now, so that they can train instead of filling out forms required for government help.”
Shooter Gagan Narang is one of the early beneficiaries of Olympic Gold Quest. The men’s 10m air-rifle marksman, who will get financial support till 2012, won a bronze in his favourite event at the ISSF World Cup shooting 2008 at Beijing. He is among nine Indian shooters so far who have got Olympic quota places for the Beijing Games.
Ashwini Nachappa, a member of the Indian women’s relay quartet at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, said: “It will be great if our athletes better their personal best efforts participating at such high levels of competition. I wish I could say better things, but from previous experience I don’t have hope for a medal in athletics. Anju George has to better 6.85m in the women’s long jump to be in the race for a medal at Beijing.”
Uday Pawar, Asian badminton medallist, pointed out that Saina Nehwal or Anup Sridhar may be in the reckoning for a medal if they get a favourable draw.
Nandakumar Marar* * *Akhtar's ban standsThe Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Naseem Ashraf, has said that the appeal tribunal verdict, banning Shoaib Akhtar for 18 months cannot be altered.
Shoaib Akhtar cannot appeal against the verdict, however, he can counsel the court against the verdict, he said.
He was talking to a private TV channel after Pakistan’s win over India in the Kitply Cup.
He said that defeating India in a tri-nation series in Dhaka would testify that Pakistan was getting back on the winning track.
Earlier, Akhtar’s five-year ban had been reduced to 18 months by a Pakistan Cricket Board appeals tribunal.
The fast bowler, 32, was handed the original sanction for repeated violations of the PCB’s code of conduct while on a two-year probation for attacking team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat in the dressing room at last September’s Twenty20 World Championship.
But the appeals tribunal, convened in Karachi, unanimously agreed the punishment was too harsh.
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