Ministry forms panel for women sportspersons

Sports minister Vijay Goel announced that his ministry will constitute a high-level committee to resolve the grievances and complaints of women sportspersons.

The joint secretary (sports) will be chairman of the panel. Other members of the panel will include athletes, advocates and senior officials of the ministry apart from a woman sports journalist.

“The ministry follows a zerotolerance policy on sexual harassment,” said Goel on Wednesday. He said the ministry was encouraging women to take up sports. “The ministry provides equal assistance and incentives to both male and female athletes and there is no gender discrimination for training,” he said.

The day-long discussion focused on creation of safe spaces for women athletes and coaches.

UNDER-17 TEAM CAN MAKE IMPACT: COACH

India’s under-17 World Cup team coach Luis Norton de Matos said the team has the “character” to make an impact in the FIFA tournament in October, if it adopts his philosophy.

Portuguese De Matos got onto the field for his first training session on Monday.

“If the boys stick to my philosophy and adopt to my pattern of plan they can create impact in the World Cup against stronger team,” said de Matos at a press conference. “During the first five weeks we will play friendly matches with local teams and assess the strength of the team before we move abroad in Portugal to play competitive matches against stronger team where we will be able to assess the strength of the team. The seven months period is good enough to build a team and create an impact.”

WOMEN DOWN BELARUS TO SWEEP SERIES 5-0

Indian women dished out a disciplined performance to notch up a 3-1 win over a fighting Belarus to register their fifth consecutive victory to win the five-match Test series 5-0 here on Wednesday.

Vandana Katariya (6th min), Gurjit Kaur (15th) and Rani (55th) sounded the board for India, while Yuliya Mikheichyk (52nd) scored the solitary goal for Belarus.