Vengsarkar urges Aaditya to enter cricket admin

Former Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Vice President Dilip Vengsarkar has urged Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackerey to take active part in cricket administration.

Aditya took over the reins of Mumbai District Football Association successfully last year.

“Of course, Aditya is very fond of football. But he also likes cricket. Football is fast catching up in India and with Aditya at the helm, I am sure football will become big in Mumbai. Aditya is an energetic and confident young man, I wish him all the luck and hope he comes to cricket. We need good cricket administrators after the Supreme Court judgment that allows a maximum of nine years of tenure to management officials. So we are hoping that young talent also comes forward in administration. Aditya, who already has experience of administration, fits the bill,” said Vengsarkar at the launch of the eighth edition of Supremo Trophy organised by Shiv Sena MLAs Sanjay Potnis and Anil Parab.

MCA elections which were postponed earlier, are likely to be held after the Indian Premier League. The association is currently led by Bombay high court appointed two-member Committee of Administrators (COA) headed by retired Supreme Court judge Hemant Gokhale, and retired Bombay high court judge V.M. Kanade. They will run the MCA till the cricket body conducts elections as per the Lodha Committee reforms.

Most of the office-bearers of the MCA rendered ineligible to continue after the SC order, including Sharad Pawar, who resigned in January last year. Ashish Shelar, who was the MCA president since Mr Pawar resigned, also quit after the COA took over. The special general meeting of the MCA will be convened in mid-May followed by the elections.

Vengsarkar, who in 2011 unsuccessful fought the presidential election against late Vilasrao Deshmukh, had also stepped aside along with Pawar last year, after the apex court verdict. The former India skipper is currently serving the cooling off period from the management.

The former BCCI chairman of selectors rued lack of facilities for sports other than cricket and hoped the government will make optimum use of a lot of open spaces in Maharashtra to develop them.

“I recently read an interview of wrestler Rahul Aware, who won the gold medal in the Common Wealth Games at Gold Coast. Wrestlers like him have to train in Haryana due to lack of infrastructure in their home state. Other than cricket, facilities aren’t good. In Kabaddi also,  Maharashtra has fantastic talent, but better training facilities are in Punjab,” Vengsarkar said.

“I have gone for matches in small villages of  Maharashtra and there is a lot of talent especially in tribal areas. But there is no infrastructure to give youngsters platform. Infrastructure has to improve. I have seen a lot of open spaces in the state which can be developed and the government  needs to look into it,” he said.

Thackeray, who was also at the event along with business tycoon Ratan Tata didn’t comment whether he will participate in MCA elections or not. However, he seconded Vengsarkar’s opinion on lack of opportunities which he is trying to address in football as the MDFA president.

"We developed Mumbai Football Arena in Andheri Sports Complex and it has become favourite of Indian football
coach Stephen Constantine. It has hosted International games. Indian team regularly trains there as it has proved lucky for them. At the same time we want to ensure that local teams also play at the venue, use the facilities and get the deserved exposure,” Aaditya said.

The Mumbai Football Arena, the new hub of Indian Football will play host to the inaugural edition of the four-nation Hero Intercontinental Cup from June 1-10, which will see the Indian National Team competing with the likes of South Africa, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei.

Supremo Chashak introduced
Thackeray and Vengsarkar hailed the tournament with the latter went to say that “Supremo Trophy is the IPL of tennis ball cricket.”

“Since 2010, I have been associated with Supremo Cup. It is a great initiative of Sanjay Potnis and Anil Parab,” Thackeray said.

This year, the organisers of Supremo Cup also launched a football tournament, which will comprise of eight teams and will be played from April 24 to 29. The tennis ball cricket tournament with 16 teams participating  will be played from May 1 to 5 with star-studded line of bollywood, sports and politics. All the matches will be played at Air India ground, Kalina.