International Sports Press Association president Gianni Merlo addresses the SJFI Bhubaneswar National Convention through video conferencing from Milan on Sept 15, 2016.

The second day of the 39th National Convention of Sports Journalists’ Federation of India (SJFI) proved to be a mixed-bag of modest physical and meaningful mental exercises, starting with cricket and table tennis matches and ending with brain-storming seminar here at different venues on Thursday.

Sports scribes of the country tasted their skill and technique in cricket by playing two matches in the J K Bose Trophy T20 Tournament at KIIT Cricket Stadium. Rain and soft underfoot conditions, of course, caused interruptions in the proceedings, but it could not dampen the enthusiasm of the players. Host East Zone suffered a setback in their opening match, going down to South Zone by seven runs, via Duckworth-Lewis Method. West Zone humbled North Zone by nine wickets in the other match of the day.

Discussions on preserving the integrity of sports, making it free of corruption and doing sports reporting in unprejudiced manner got prominence in the evening programme that took place at Hotel Mayfair Convention. Addressing the gathering from Milan (Italy) through Skype online video conferencing, International Sports Press Association (AIPS) president Gianni Merlo expressed concern over doping and match-fixing in sports and exhorted sports fraternity to fight together to overcome the threat posed by these menaces.

“Doping and match-fixing have become serious threats to the integrity of sports. No one should blame sports for this complex situation as a few individuals are spoiling the spirit of sports,’’ said Merlo. He exhorted sports journalists to get ready to perform multi-task job in the days to come and also advised them to follow honesty, transparency and fairness in reporting.

AIPS Asia secretary general Amjad Aziz Malik of Pakistan also expressed worries about the unhealthy practices of doping and match-fixing in sports and was of the opinion that India should take the lead from Asia in fighting these evils. Suggesting the idea of forming South Asian Sports Journalists’ Federation, Malik said: “AIPS Asia has 11 South Asian countries as members and the creation of South Asian body will help put forward their demands before the world body.’’

Odisha hockey icon Dilip Tirkey, the other guest of the evening, was candid in his admission that sports journalists have been playing big role in transforming sportspersons into stars. He, however, felt that only those games which have more money and sponsorship are getting adequate media coverage in India. Also a Parliament Member, Tirkey urged sport journalists not to discriminate in reporting and give equal importance to games which do not have much money.

SJFI president Subodh Malla Barua and OSJA president K Ravi felicitated AIPS president Merlo, Asia secretary Malik and former India hockey captain Tirkey with mementos in the function. SJFI secretary A Vinod and OSJA secretary Suresh Swain were present on the occasion.

Earlier, the J K Bose Trophy Cricket Tournament was inaugurated by Odisha cricket stars Debasis Mohanty and Shiv Sundar Das in the presence of Amjad Aziz Malik, former basketball international Arupananda Routray and KIIT Sports Director Dr Gaganendu Dash.

The A C Bali Trophy Table Tennis Tournament was kick-started at KIIT University in the afternoon. Odisha State Table Tennis Association secretary Rabindra Kumar Parida was the chief guest on the occasion. Also present were ace Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand and AIPS Asia secretary Malik.

CRICKET RESULTS:
Match No 1 (KIIT Stadium): North Zone 80/7 in 12 overs (Ethram Ali 4/22) lost to West Zone 81/1 in 9.1 overs (Sujan 25, Debandra Pandey 32 n.o) by 9 wkts.
Match No 2 (KIIT Stadium): South Zone 101/6 in 15 overs (Abhisek Bwadkar 34; Sk Fazal Ali 2/25) beat East Zone 67/4 in 11.3 overs (Md Abdul Aziz 22, Alpan Saha 22) by 7 runs.