India file — IOA likely to sponsor trips

NEW DELHI: The Indian Olympic Association is likely to foot all expenses of sportspersons participating in multi-discipline events like the...

NEW DELHI: The Indian Olympic Association is likely to foot all expenses of sportspersons participating in multi-discipline events like the Commonwealth, Asian and Olympic Games in future, ending its dependence on government clearance till the last minute.

IOA, which managed to sponsor some of the contingents to the Atlanta Olympics last year despite Government denying clearance, was confident of securing full sponsorship in future, according to its secretary general Randhir Singh.

AAFI awards

NEW DELHI: With a view to encourage athletes the Ameteur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) has come up with incentives from this year.In the senior section, AAFI’s `Athlete of the Year Award’, carrying a cash prize of up to Rs 1 lakh, will be given to the most outstanding athlete of the country, while in the junior section, the best junior athlete stands to gain to the tune of Rs 10,000.

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Keeping in mind the hard work done by the coaches, the AAFI has also introduced a scheme by which the best coach would get Rs 50,000.

Cedric mum

MUMBAI: Cedric D’Souza, director of coaching of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) today refused to be drawn in the issue of negligence raised by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) against him.

SAI Director General Asha Swaroop, in her report, has condemned the sub-standard facilities at the last National Senior Championship at Bangalore and also questioned D’Souza’s absence from it and some key tournaments.

UB support

HYDERABAD: United Breweries which has pumpd in about Rs 1.50 crore to stage the second Federation Cup football tournament, would be sponsoring the prestigious competition for the next five years.

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The company also announced Rs 15 lakh first prize for this year’s winners.