Guwahati: Guilty of forfeiting the game midway during the title clash of the 2nd North East Olympic Games (NEOG) against Mizoram in November, the Assam men’s basketball team has been reprimanded by the Assam Olympic Association (AOA) in its Executive Committee meeting held here on Monday.
The decision was supported by Dilip Hazarika, the state coordinator of the sport, which is run by an ad-hoc committee under the chairmanship of Basketball Federation of India (BFI) vice-president Gautam Ganguly.
But what triggered the Assam team to forfeit the match, with a medal at stake?
In an interaction with EastMojo, Hazarika blamed a coach and a couple of senior players for instigating the others to pull out of the summit clash after a couple of senior officials (who went on invitation of the host association as referees) from the contingent were called back from Shillong, to take care of a couple of other tournaments, slated later in November.
“I was physically present in a meeting related to preparations for the PSPB inter-unit tournament, but mentally I was in Shillong where Assam was playing Nagaland in the semi-finals of the NEOG. And in the middle of the meeting, I came out to congratulate the team for beating Nagaland by the narrowest of margins 73-71. I congratulated the boys, and immediately transferred Rs 8,000 to them as a reward for confirming another medal for the state.”
“Now that the medal was already confirmed, I had to recall a couple of senior officials overnight to take care of the upcoming two tournaments — All India University (AIU) East Zone Inter-University Basketball Tournament 2022-23 and the Inter-Unit tournament 2022-23 of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB),” he narrated.
“And accordingly, two officials returned to Guwahati, and the team was expected to take on Mizoram in the summit clash. But what transpired on the day of the final was uncalled for, and from what I learnt, I can say a coach and a couple of senior players were involved in instigating the other players after which they picked a fight with one of the referees and forfeited the game midway,” he explained in detail.
So, what next for the players?
Hazarika felt that the players had to blame themselves for being played by the ‘coach and the senior player’ as they are all set to lose a year of their career. “None of these players, coach and manager will be allowed to participate in any district, state and national level competitions for a year.”
Backing the AOA’s decision, he said such measures will act as a deterrent for the others, and added that as organisers and former players, no association or organisation expect players to forfeit a game midway.
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A statement from the AOA read, “It was also unanimously decided to initiate penal action against the Basketball team (boys), the coach and the manager for their unsportsmanlike conduct during the final match in the Northeast Olympics and for bringing disrepute to the state.”
During the EC meet presided over by AOA president and former state chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, it was decided that the next Assam Youth Olympics (AYO) will be held at Dibrugarh in November 2023 while the Assam State Championship will be held in Jorhat in February 2023.
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