PANJIM: They say hard facts always prevail over vested interest and a similar instance was witnessed where the Champion cyclist Dr Blanche Themudo, who had earlier won two races in the Elite Women category managed to defeat the Cycling Association of Goa in the biggest race to the Nationals.
Blanche, who had filed a petition against CAG protesting against her “unfair non-selection” to the Goa state team for the National championships under controversial circumstances, won the case after the court passed the verdict in her favour on Wednesday.
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A High Court bench of Justice MS Jawalkar and Revati Mohite Dere in their 13-page order issued on Wednesday, November 17 directed the Cycling Association of Goa, “to forthwith during the course of the day send the name of the petitioner (Dr Blanche Themudo) to the Cycling Federation of India for representing the state of Goa in the national cycling event to be held in Kurukshetra, Haryana from November 25-28, 2021 in the ‘Elite women’s’ category.”
The order also directed the Cycling Federation of India, the organisers of the Nationals thus, “We make it clear that the Cycling Federation of India shall not reject the petitioner’s name on the ground of delay in forwarding the petitioners’ name, post the deadline.”
“I am really delighted with the verdict and now my focus shifts back to the training. The law has stood with the just and its reassurance to all of us,” stated Blanche soon after the court passed the verdict in her favour.
“Associations should help fellow sportspersons however, it just doesn’t happen in most of the cases. I am glad that I fought back for my rightful place in the Goa team,” stated Blanche, who will now be an inspirational factor to many other sportspersons who have undergone similar situations in the past.
Blanche also revealed that the association only recommends the names for the nationals and offers no other help. “It’s disheartening to speak all this. The cyclist bear the cost by themselves for the Nationals. Even the State team jerseys we wear during the races are contributed by the participants,” said Blanche.
It can be recollected that Dr Blanche, a practising dentist and avid cyclist had come first in both the 20km time trial selection race and the 80km mass start race in the women’s ‘elite category’ at the recently held State championship organised by the CAG. Ordinarily, this should have been sufficient criteria for her to get selected for the Goa state team.
However, controversy erupted when the CAG announced the Goa team list as late as November 13, just two days before the deadline issued by the Cycling Federation of India (CFI), the sport’s national governing body without any mention of Dr Blanche’s name.
