Mix-up: A Singh honoured as Ganguly!

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 6

In a major goof-up on the part of the Indian football federation (AIFF) and the U-17 WC’s Local Organising Committee (LOC), Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended up felicitating Magan Singh in place of Bhaskar Ganguly during a short ceremony ahead of India’s tournament opener against the USA here today.

Charu Sharma, who was anchoring the ceremony, introduced Singh, the captain of the Indian team at the 1974 Asian Games, as Ganguly to the Prime Minister. Modi presented Singh with a shawl and a memento even as Sharma kept calling him Bhaskar da.  And all this while, Ganguly, the captain of the 1982 Asian Games team, was sitting among the dignitaries called by AIFF and LOC for the felicitation function. Surprisingly, Ganguly’s name was not announced at all for the felicitation, even though he kept waiting for his turn to meet the PM. 

Interestingly, AIFF president Praful Patel, who was standing next to Modi during the function, didn’t interrupt and let the blunder play out. Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore also attended the function. On the condition of anonymity, an AIFF official said: “Perhaps Patel doesn’t know Singh and Ganguly. Otherwise, he would have told the PM. You can’t blame him much since he is a politician first and a sports administrator later."

Singh himself sounded clueless about the blunder. "I can’t say how that happened. There might be some confusion about the serial numbers. Nevertheless, it’s a proud moment to get felicitated by the Prime Minister," said Singh.

On realising the mistake, the organisers got Ganguly felicitated after the match had begun.

The footballers were to be felicitated on the basis of their seniority. PK Banerjee, who captained India at the 1960 Rome Olympics, was the first to be honoured, followed by Syed Nayeemuddin, India’s captain at the 1970 Asian Games. Next was Singh as he captained the country at the ‘74 Asiad, but Sharma announced Ganguly’s name. After Singh’s felicitation, Sharma straightaway announced the name of IM Vijayan, captain at the 1998 Asian Games, omitting Ganguly’s name. The others felicitated by the PM incuded Baichung Bhutia, Joaquim Abranches, Sunil Chhetri and women’s team international Oinam Bembem Devi. 

No water, kids faint  

Six schoolchildren fainted while several others had a harrowing time due to the non-availability of free drinking water at the JLN Stadium on the opening day of the U-17 World Cup. The Local Organising Committee (LOC) had made no arrangements for free drinking water for the school kids, who were ferried to the Stadium from different parts of the Delhi-NCR region. Vendors were seen charging Rs 40-50 for packaged water, and the long queues at the counters made the situation even worse. "I saw six schoolchildren fainting and several others in poor condition due to lack of water. Many kids drank from the used bottle strewn around, and some even climbed up a water tanker to quench their thrust," said a volunteer.