India not amused, says F1 team decision not in spirit of sports

navy_1.jpg.crop_display.jpg

India on Friday disapproved of Formula One team Ferrari's decision to race with the Italian navy flag on their cars at Indian Grand Prix as a gesture of solidarity towards its marines facing trial in India over murder charges, saying this is ‘not in keeping with the spirit of sports’.

Reflecting New Delhi's unhappiness, official spokesperson in the ministry of external affairs Syed Akbaruddin said, "using sporting events to promote cause which are not of a sporting nature is not in keeping with the spirit of sports."

Announcing their decision to race with the flag of the Italian navy on their cars at this weekend's Indian Grand Prix, a Ferrari team official on Thursday had said, "First of all, we just wanted to pay tribute to all the Italian Navy which is one of the excellences of Italy and it's just a sign of hope that a solution can be found about the case that involves two Italian sailors."

"Something which has to be clear that we don't want to say anything in one sense or the another. We have utmost respect for the Indian authorities. We just hope that a solution can be found as soon as possible," he said.

Ferrari had created a flutter by announcing on their official website that it will show its support for Italian sailors by racing with military symbols on its cars' livery at the second edition of the Indian GP, to be held at the Buddha International Circuit from October 26-28.

Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, the marines on board the Italian ship 'Enrica Lexie', had allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen - Valentine Jalastine and Ajesh Bi – off Kerala coast on February 15.

They were detained on February 19 and were sent to Central Prison in Thiruvananthpuram. Later on, they were granted bail in June but on the condition that they must remain in Indian territory.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/198114" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: &lt;a&gt; &lt;em&gt; &lt;strong&gt; &lt;cite&gt; &lt;code&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;dl&gt; &lt;dt&gt; &lt;dd&gt;</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-73ff743c5ce157d491e4d5f27887fd6f" value="form-73ff743c5ce157d491e4d5f27887fd6f" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="79850571" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

I want to begin with a little story that was told to me by a leading executive at Aptech. He was exercising in a gym with a lot of younger people.

Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen didn’t make the cut. Neither did Shaji Karun’s Piravi, which bagged 31 international awards.