AICS: P. Gopichand, Sachin Tendulkar, Bhaichung Bhutia among notable omissions

The number of members has been cut down to 18 from the original 27.

V. K. Malhotra remains president of the All India Sports Council. - V. V. KRISHNAN

P. Gopichand, the Indian badminton national coach, was among the notable omissions from the fresh list of members for the All India Council of Sports (AICS), announced by the Sports Ministry.

Gopichand told IANS he had informed the ministry about four months back that he wouldn’t be able to attend the meetings. “I had told them that this is the Olympic year and so it’s not possible for me to attend meetings. This was about four months back,” Gopichand told IANS .

Less members

Former Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia, cricket great Sachin Tendulkar and former chess world champion Viswanathan Anand were the other notable former members omitted from the reconstituted committee. The number of members was pruned to 18 from the original 27.

An advisory committee, the AICS was formed in December, 2015, during Sarbananda Sonowal’s tenure as Sports Minister. According to the ministry’s notification regarding the same in the Gazette of India, membership of an individual may be terminated if they “do not attend three consecutive meetings of the Council without proper leave of the Chairperson.”

The council is supposed to meet at least once in every quarter. It is also stated that a member’s tenure is of three years but sources say there have been cases when it has ended before this period.