Row over Sania mom’s role

Row over Sania mom’s role

Controversies over the selection of support staff for the Beijing-bound Indian contingent cropped up on Friday when the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) decided to include tennis star Sania Mirza’s mother as one of the officials of the tennis squad.

While top officials of the IOA decided not to talk on the issue, sources in the IOA revealed that Mrs Nasima Mirza would accompany her daughter in the Olympics as one of the coaches of the tennis team.

“There was a time when the IOA was willing to send seven officials for the four-member tennis team as they were unable to withstand pressure from the top stars like Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza,” sources said.

But finally, the number of support staff for the tennis team has been brought down to four. They are — Nandan Bal, Scott Davidson, Renuka Pinto (Sania’s physio) and Nasima Mirza.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) is believed to have asked for a 10-member support staff, which included Leander’s father, Dr. Vace Paes, Rick Leach and physio Sanjay Singh.

Dr. Paes, however, is going as one of the doctors for the entire Indian contingent.

Earlier, addressing a press conference, IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said that the support staff has been selected as per the Olympic criteria. “We have nothing to hide, I can read out the names of the support staff,” Kalmadi said.

Later, the IOA officials didn’t furnish the list of officials going for the Olympics, saying it wasn’t prepared yet.

Apart from agreeing to Sania Mirza’s request to take her mother along, the IOA, in a shocking move, has also decided keep South African physio Heath Mathews out of the Indian squad.

Mathews, considered one of the best in the business, was attached with the Indian boxing squad for the past several months and was mainly responsible for reviving the career of pugilist Akhil Kumar, who was down with a hand injury.

When asked, Kalmadi said: “I was not aware of this and would definitely look into the matter.”

IOA treasurer AK Mattoo said: “This is a normal procedure. As per the Olympic rule, the support staff quota is fixed according to the size of the contingent. And there we try to adjust after considering the need of different squads.”