Zeecric Bureau
New Delhi: In a shocking development, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided not to send men`s and women`s cricket teams to this year`s Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Guangzhou, China later this year.
Sources close to BCCI said that India would skip the prestigious event due to its prior international commitments during that period.
Indian men`s team will have a busy time in November as they host New Zealand for three Tests and five ODIs.
"We would not be able to send our team, both men and women, for the Asian Games in China because of international commitments," BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty told reporters here.
"We have communicated the same to the Indian Olympic Association," he said.
It is important to note here that the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) had decided to include cricket in this year’s edition of the Asian Games for the first time. More ironic is the fact that India and Pakistan were the chief initiators behind the inclusion of the game into the Asian Games.
The popular Twenty20 format was selected for the November 12-27 Games, with gold medals being available for both men and women.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the four Test-playing nations from the region, had automatically qualified for the competition along with hosts China.
Cricket last featured at the Olympics in Paris in 1900 when Great Britain beat France to win the gold medal.
The honchos at BCCI have become incapable of straight thinking ever since they decided to placate politicians to hold on to their chairs by gunning for Lalit Modi, the man who showed the possibilities of cricket. If it was Lalit Modi who had to take the decision, I am sure he would have sent teams both for the Olympics and kept the New Zealand commitment. After all, it is not just one lot of cricketers we have in India. There are enough talented cricketers to easily make at least two world-class cricket teams. Then why the cussedness about technical niceties? Why don't we rise to the occasion and conquer? Ah, for that we need people who have the capacity to think big - like a Lalit Modi, for instance.
http://cricket.zeenews.com/fullstory.aspx?nid=30133
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