One of the things that sport in India desperately requires apart from the essentials like infrastructure, funds, adequate practice facilities etc is that a federation that is clean, transparent and free of any kind of negative image in the public eye.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) is a prime example of a body that is going all out to improve its image in the public eye, following the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the Indian cricketing fraternity and under its current chief Shashank Manohar, has slowly started to get back on track.
There are examples of other federations in India as well that have found themselves in a scuffle and are trying to restore its image.
However, not all federations find themselves trying to develop or recreate a positive image in front of the public eye and one among those is the Chennai-based Squash Rackets Federation of India(SRFI).
Started in the pre-independence era, the federation over the years has seen tremendous growth over the years and they have ensured that anybody who visits their website are kept in the loop over the happenings in the federation.
Not have the SRFI been efficient in keeping important details like rankings up to date, they have also provided the public with details of their financial expenses in the form of balance sheets over the course of the last three years.
Vouching for equal pay
One of the things that sportspersons, have been asking for quite some time now has been giving equal prize money for both Men’s and Women’s winners.
An example for a sport that has been following this has been Tennis, with the winners of all 4 Grand Slams receiving equal prize money. On similar terms, the SRFI also award both the Men’s and Women’s winners of the National Championships with the same prize money.
In order to make a champion in any field, one needs to not just give him the right facilities but also needs to address the issues both on and off the field.
The issue of equal pay has in the past created a quite a bit of news and it is indeed great to see sports federations provide Mens and Womens the equal just reward that they deserve for the exploits on the court.
