Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi and other sports administrators received a shot in the arm after the International Olympic Council (IOC) rejected Sports Ministry's argument for a tenure limitation regulation, warning such a move might result in India being thrown out of the Olympic family next month.
Former Sports Minister M S Gill has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to honour iconic centenarian marathon runner Fauja Singh with a Padma Award.
Lashing out at the BCCI for converting Indian public to "zombies of cricket" by foisting tournaments like IPL "tamasha", former Sports Minister MS Gill asked the Board to have some sanity in its thinking and shift the matches of the lucrative T20 competition out of drought-hit Maharashtra. Gill, who served as the Union Sports Minister from April 2008 to May 2009 and currently a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, was reacting after Bombay High Court raised questions on why water should be "wasted" on hosting IPL matches in Maharashtra when the state is facing one of its worst-ever droughts. In total, 20 IPL matches are scheduled to be held in Maharashtra in three venues -- Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. "The drought condition in Maharashtra is so severe that in a few days people in areas like Marathawada will not even have a glass of water to drink. As a former Sports Minister and ex-Agriculture Secretary, I know that several parts of Maharashtra are bone dry and I am amazed that in this situation the BCCI wants to hold these IPL matches," Gill told PTI.
Sports minister of India Manohar Singh Gill on Saturday expressed regret over a series of pullouts from this year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, a day after British cyclist Chris Hoy announced his withdrawal.
Government on Thursday assured the Rajya Sabha that it will look into the charges of corruption in the Commonwealth Games projects in the national capital but ruled out setting up of an apex committee to oversee the Games.
Sports Minister MS Gill said the Karni Singh Shooting Range will be ready well before next month's Commonwealth Championship and once completed, the facility would prove best of its kind in the world.
Amidst reports of delays and shoddy work, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may next week inspect some of the venues of Commonwealth Games to be held in the national capital in October.
Former hockey goalkeeper Baljit Singh on Thursday accused Sports Minister MS Gill of not fulfilling his commitment of helping him regain his full vision and alleged the Ministry brought him back midway through his treatment in the US.
Countries participating in this year's Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be held in Delhi, should not worry about security, said Sports Minister M S Gill on Monday, assuring that India will deliver an incident-free event.
India's sports minister Manohar Singh Gill on Friday warned the Indian Premier League (IPL) organisers over serving liquor inside the stadiums during matches.
The Sports Ministry doubled the cash awards for gold medal winners to Rs 20 lakhs for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games to encourage sportspersons to come up with an improved performance in the upcoming mega-events.
With all the reports of "filth" in the Games Village really hitting the country's image hard, the prime minister took Sports Minister M S Gill and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to task at a meeting on Thursday night. According to sources, Lt Governor of New Delhi Tejinder Khanna was "shivering" while responding to him
The reshuffle in portfolios carried out by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has apparently left some ministers unhappy, as some of them made their discontent clear through cynical remarks on Thursday. "I have forgotten that time (as a sports minister)...God has screwed my head in such a way that I can't look back and look forward." This is how M S Gill, who has been shunted out from the sports ministry to statistics and programme implementation, reacted.
Reader Satyaprakash N. Kandare sent us a picture of M S Gill.
Sports Minister M S Gill on Monday opposed the Board of Control for Cricket in India's stance on the 'whereabout' clause of the World Anti-Doping Agency, saying cricketers should fall in line without cribbing.
Sports Minister M S Gill urged India's striking hockey players to join the World Cup preparatory camp in Pune, promising them a 'fair deal' after the completion of next month's mega event in Delhi. After a breakdown in talks between the administrators and players, who are staying away from the camp in protest against non-payment of their 2009 dues, Gill asked the players to return to training immediately.
Mike Fennell, the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), has expressed satisfaction with the Indian government's assurances of support to ensure a successful holding of the event.
Union sports minister M S Gill on Friday said the Indian cricket team should not undertake its scheduled tour of Pakistan in January. Prior to going public he it believed to have informally made know the government's mindset to the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Sports Ministry formally recognises yogasana as competitive sport.
Reacting to Azim Premji's statement that investment on events like the Commonwealth Games is a waste of money, the Minister of Sports Dr M S Gill said that the government has decided to give awards to those companies which invest in promotion of sports.
Rafael Nadal has said he will sue the former French government minister Roselyne Bachelot after she alleged that the Spaniard's lengthy absence from tennis in 2012 was due to a positive doping test.
'There were many experts around me,' A Ganesh Nadar discovers at the India-Pakistan hockey game. 'One of them was explaining to his neighbour, that fellow is a good dragger and flicker, that fellow is a penalty corner specialist, that fellow is a penalty specialist, that fellow is a very good defender, etc, freely dispensing with his expert knowledge.'
Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, headed by Dr MS Gill, has officially released the details of the money sanctioned by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to train coaches, athletes both in India as well as abroad and giving exposure to the athletes in various international events in order to prepare them for 19th Commonwealth Games that was held in New Delhi from October 3-14.
Former IHF vice-president Gufran-e-Azam called for the immediate removal of the IHF chief.
Sports Minister M S Gill on Monday assured that the cases of sexual harassment that have plunged hockey and weightlifting into a moral crisis would be dealt with in a 'professional and impartial way'.
The former hockey ace said the IHF chief must take the 'blame and responsibility' for the team's dismal show in the recent Rabobank Trophy.
All 'irregularities' in run up to hosting the just-concluded Commonwealth Games will be examined and the guilty will not be spared, the Government assured the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Unhappy with the Sports Authority of India's flip-flop over the dope testing episode involving weightlifter Monika Devi, Sports Minister M S Gill on Wednesday appointed former Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy to inquire into all aspects of the matter. Krishnamurthy has been asked to submit his report within a week, sources in the Sports Ministry said.
Sports Minister M S Gill on Saturday promised to take "prompt and appropriate" against corruption cases in the Commonwealth Games and said all deals related to the sporting extravangza should be tabled in Parliament.
The self-styled Sikh preacher managed to give police a slip after changing his vehicle on Saturday when police had launched a crackdown against him and his outfit 'Waris Punjab De'.
Miffed at the Sports Ministry for not inviting him for the National Sports Award ceremony on Sunday, Indian Olympic Association secretary general Randhir Singh on Tuesday resigned from the governing body of Sports Authority of India.
Money poured in for the protesting women hockey players on Friday with Sports Minister MS Gill announcing that Rs 1.1 crore has been pooled in for the girls.
Furious with National Sports Federations for not complying with its tenure and age limitation guidelines, the Sports Ministry on Tuesday threatened to deny annual recognition to NSFs which refuse to fall in line.
Raul, Fabio Cannavaro, Ruud van Nistelrooy and fellow Galacticos descending in India to weave magic on carpet does not sound daydreaming anymore with Real Madrid President Ramon Calderon Ramos writing to Sports Minister M S Gill, seeking a passage to India. Gill has reacted by promptly writing to his cabinet colleague and All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, seeking to discuss the next course of action.
The bitter war of words between 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi and Games Federation CEO Mike Hooper should not have happened, Sports Minister M S Gill said, promising to do all he can to resolve the issues between the two.
It seems the blame game has already begun, even before the Commonwealth games has started, where the federations and the Sports Ministry blaming each other for the delay in the completion of the stadiums.
The Australian government has demanded the country's most funded sports rein in gender discrimination for travel arrangements to major events or risk having their support cut.
The pension of medal winners in international competitions, like the Olympics and Asian Games, has been doubled with effect from July 1, the Sports Ministry announced on Thursday. As per the revised rates of pension, medalists at the Olympic Games will get Rs 10,000 in place of Rs 5000 and gold medalists at the World Cup/World Championships in Olympic and Asian Games disciplines will draw Rs 8000 instead of Rs 4000 per month.
With the ghost of doping returning to haunt Indian weightlifting, Sports Minister M S Gill has taken strong exception to the latest case involving Kavita Devi and called for a review meeting to discuss the menace. After weightlifters let down the nation at the Athens Olympics and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Gill does not want to take any chances ahead of the Beijing Games in August.
Congratulating Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi on reaching the US Open men's doubles final, Sports Minister M S Gill on Thursday said the pair's success should lead to better sporting ties between India and Pakistan.
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