HC to Gopichand: Opt out of selection
The Bombay high court on Monday directed the national chief badminton player Pullela Gopichand to opt out of the selection process — only for Prajakta Sawant — till December 2013.
A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice A.V. Mohta was hearing a petition filed by aspiring badminton player Prajakta Sawant against renowned badminton player and coach Gopichand after she was denied entry to the All India National Coaching Camp being held at Gopichand’s academy in Hyderabad.
Sawant had on Monday appealed to court that there should be no bias against her and that she should also be given the opportunity to participate in national and international badminton doubles tournaments. She stated that the Gopichand camp had put severe pressure on the people who were willing to partner with her. Sawant had also accused him of favouring players from his own academy and alleged that he had destroyed the career of many promising badminton players. In a previous hearing, the court had directed that BAI to file an affidavit on why the national selector was permitted to run a private training camp.
However, advocate Shiraz Rustomjee, representing Gopichand, contended that there was a knowledgeable 10-member panel that selected the candidates for the tournaments and Gopichand is not the sole selector.
The court, however, asked Mr Rustomjee if Gopichand would be willing to opt out of the selection process for Sawant alone. Mr Rustomjee agreed that Gopichand would do so, but only for a restricted period. He also demanded that Sawant withdraw her allegations against Gopichand.
The bench then directed Gopichand to opt out of the selection process with regards to Sawant till December 2013. It also asked Sawant to withdraw her allegations against Gopichand.
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