AICF Secretary Blames President For Risking The Future Of Players

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It seems as if the confusion and tussle for power in the All India Chess Federation is not going to end anytime soon. It has been reported that Special Meeting of AICF’s General Body which was scheduled to be held on Dec 22 at Gurugram in Haryana will be held accordingly. The reports have been confirmed by the secretary of AICF Bharat Singh Chauhan.

Earlier the prevailing rift took an interesting turn when the sports ministry had stepped into the matter. The sports ministry in a letter had warned the AICF president PR Venketrama Raja, who had called Urgent Meeting of General Body on Saturday, to call off the meet failing which the AICF would have to face harsh consequences. However, the AICF president did not pay any heed to the warning by the government and went ahead with the meeting on Saturday.

Responding on the decision of the AICF president Chauhan said that Venketrama Raja has put the players’ interest at risk by going ahead with the Urgent Meeting of General Body.

Chauhan’s statement received support from International Master Varugeese Koshy who said that it was important for a sports federation to maintain healthy relations with the government. Koshy further added that if AICF is suspended by the government then it is the youngsters who would be largely affected.

On the other hand, the faction that is led by AICF president is of the opinion that they have not defied the Sports Ministry’s direction.

R.M. Dongre, FIDE Zone President 3 said that the Sports Ministry had asked to cancel the December 14 meeting, however, the ministry had not specifically asked AICF to cancel the urgent general body meeting. He further added that the meeting did not take up the matter relating to Bengal Chess Association as the Ministry had informed that they will send an observer at the meeting. He also informed that a separate meeting of the general body will be called on December 28 in Bhopal.

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