Jan. 3: The Hyderabad Cricket Association, which has been staggering over the past one year courtesy its poor performances on and off the field, was hit by another controversy on Monday when the National Geophysical Research Institute in the city, after the high-tech Electron Probe Micro Analyser (EPMA) evaluation, declared that all is not gold in the prestigious Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup, raising strong suspicions against officials in seats of power over the years.
“The Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup was valued at Rs 2,77,000 back in 1988 (the gold rate being approximately Rs 500 per 10 grams then) when I was secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. The same was recorded in the minutes of the HCA committee meeting,” veteran administrator Man Singh said, adding, “how can its value plunge to a mere Rs 70,000 now? There is something fishy.”
The tests were requisitioned by the HCA in November 2010 to evaluate the gold content in the Cup following rumours that the original Cup, presumed to be made of pure gold, had been replaced with a replica sometime in the past decade. The Cup was donated by cricket-loving former Hyderabad ruler Nawab Moin-ud-Dowlah (1890-1941) in the year 1932-33.
“Average analysis of five metallic samples (taken from different parts of the Cup) showed that the gold content ranged from 37.98 to 36.04 weight percentage, equivalent to just 9.12 to 8.65 carats. The calculation is assumed on the basis 24 carats is 100 per cent gold,” the report, a copy of which is available with this newspaper, said.
The material used in manufacturing the Gold Cup is an alloy of gold, silver and copper. The copper content ranges from 33.92 to 38.01 while silver is found between 24.25 and 32.02 in weight percentage, according to the report submitted by Dr E.V.S.S.K. Babu, scientist-EII and in-charge, and Dr P.V. Sunder Raju, scientist-E1, EPMA Laboratory, CSIR-NGRI.
Man Singh also pointed to the disappearance of other valuable trophies from the HCA’s cabinet. “The Mano Trophies (two, one each for the junior and senior inter-schools champions) have gone missing. So also the Lal Harbansrai Trophy, awarded to the senior zonals champions,” Man Singh said.
“These trophies were made of pure silver and donated by my father and uncle respectively, and since the championships have been disbanded, I had asked the trophies to be returned to me. But the HCA says there is no record of them. Current president (Arshad Ayub) remembers receiving the Mano Trophy as captain of the victorious Little Flower school during his days,” Man Singh claimed.
Those apart, it may be a while before the truth about the bigger, Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup, is known.