Ganguly appointed vice-chairman of State Sports Council
Express News Service
Posted: Jul 07, 2011 at 0219 hrs IST
Kolkata The West Bengal government on Wednesday nominated Sourav Ganguly as a vice-chairman for the State Sports Council. Former footballers Gouranga Banerjee, Compton Dutta, paddler Poulami Ghatak and chess grandmaster Dibyendu Barua are the other members in the working committee who will work in the same capacity along with the former India captain.
“The Sports Minister called me and I have accepted his offer,” Ganguly told The Indian Express. “I have to sit with him and the other members of the committee to understand my role and the areas of work,” he added.
State Sports Minister Madan Mitra assured that the committee would work independently without any political influence. “I am the only political person in the committee. Naturally, I would be outnumbered,” Mitra said tongue-in-cheek. On a serious note, he said: “The idea is to develop sports in the state with the people who have played it. They will guide us and set the roadmap. A lot needs to be done as far as sports is concerned in our state and we need specialists to do the job.”
Ganguly’s nomination, however, came as a surprise. The Trinamool Congress had raised objection about his appointment as an Election Commission icon ahead of the 2011 Assembly polls. Later Ganguly had withdrawn himself from the role. Ganguly, who was known to be close to former State Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharyabe, had also recently lost the court battle for a plot of land in Salt Lake that was given to him by the Left Front government in 2008 for setting up a school.
Recently, however, the ice seems to be melting. Ganguly was a special guest in a function that was arranged last month by the state government to felicitate the medal winners of the 64th National Games.
Just a few days ago, Ganguly took charge of the Barisha Sporting Club as its general secretary. The new appointment would give him a bigger opportunity to work as a sports administrator. Olympian Chuni Goswami, who is a vice-chairman of the advisory board of the Sports Council, welcomed Ganguly to sports administration.
Source: http://www.expressindia.com
He’s a good choice.
This is cricketer Ganguly not Anand’s second SS Ganguly
su market is right: Sourav Ganguly, who is referred to in the article as “the former India captain”, is a famous cricketer, not a chess player. GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly was a member of Anand’s team of seconds for the 2008 and 2010 world championship matches.