Sports gradation row: Questions raised over organising body

CHANDIGARH: As per the documents available on the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) website, the 2014 ISSF Junior Cup held in Suhl was organised by the German Shooting Sport Federation. This has raised questions on the entitlement of the Grade-A sports certificate issued by then Haryana sports director IAS officer Jagdeep Singh to his son Vishwajeet, who has been recently selected in Haryana Civil Service (HCS) (executive cadre) under the eligible sportsperson category.

Grade-A certificate made him eligible for the HCS job. The invitation for participating in the ISSF Junior Cup 2014 also shows that the event was organised by the German shooting sports body. IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who had complained against the issuance of the certificate (issued by Jagdeep Singh to his son) on December 27 last year to the Haryana’s chief secretary, has claimed that the tournament did not qualify for the Grade-A under the notification dated May 25, 2018, as the event was not organised by the International Shooting Federation.

As per the notification, an international tournament has to be organised by the international governing body of the respective sport in order to entitle a sportsperson for a valid gradation.

“A revised notification that came on November 15, 2018, completely foreclosed all international tournaments, other than world cup/championship, for sports gradation,” Khemka had mentioned in the letter.

DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE ON ISSF WEBSITE SHOW THE EVENT ON BASIS OF WHICH VISHWAJEET WAS GIVEN GRADE-A SPORTS CERTIFICATE WAS NOT ORGANISED BY AN INTERNATIONAL GOVERNING BODY