FMSCI vows to race ahead

The Federation of Motorsports Clubs of India on Saturday vowed to go ahead with its calendar of events to ensure that the growth of the sport in the country does not suffer.

This came after the Union government waved the chequered flag in its favour, following a head-on collision for official recognition with the newly-formed parallel body Motorsports Association of India.

FMSCI president K Madan and vice-president Vicky Chandok told newsmen in Madras that the 2001 national go-karting championship will be their first major event for the year, and will cover Bangalore, Madras, Bombay, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Ludhiana, with the finals in Delhi. The first round is on September 2. It will be followed by five rounds of the four-wheeler national racing championship, starting September 9.

Madan added that the FMSCI will not recognise the national championship conducted by the MAI, which is headed by former FMSCI president and founder member Nazir Hoosein.

Madan and Chandok clarified that the number of events conducted by the FMSCI should exceed 50 by the year-end, which, they said, would prove Hoosein's claim that he "formed the MAI to give a new fillip to the sport in the country as it had been stagnating under the FMSCI's stewardship" -- wrong.

Madan pointed out that while the FMSCI's events over the years had over 4,000 participants, competitions conducted by the MAI do not even have 10 per cent of it.

"The FMSCI has organised approximately 150 events every year for the last few years, which is at an average of an event every three days. The MAI has organised five to seven events last year and even Hoosein’s press release states that they have five or six events left to run this year, in addition to the handful already run. The word stagnation has to be redefined. The FMSCI, from organising 112 events in 1992 progressed to 150 in 1998 and 132 in 1999," Madan said.

He said the Formula I management appreciated the FMSCI’s commitment, and granted an ex-gratia filming Narain Karthikeyan in a Formula 1 car. Further, he said F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, in a letter, had sought the FMSCI's support in bringing Formula 1 to India.

"Surely, you will agree that this is no small achievement," he said.

Madan and Chandok went on to say that Hoosein's remarks, at a press conference in Bombay, that the government had "suddently woken up from its slumber" have cast aspersions on the Government of India.

"While he [Hoosein] has clearly admitted that he had 'informed' the ministry [about his nomination to the world body from China], he has obviously misled the FIA, including members of the World Motor Sport Council, general assembly and the president in to believing that his 'information' was a recognition.

"The FIA’s pre-requisites demand a national government recognition because all national governments will consider all facts and situations relating to their own countries and recognise one body as the national sports federation, which then will be recognised by the FIA rather than the FIA receiving hundreds of applications. There are printed guidelines by the Government of India for any applicant for any discipline of sport. Unfortunately, Hoosein does not fulfil any of them." Madan said.

Has asked whether bringing an Asia zone international championship with four foreign cars, with all drivers of Indian origin, to India and organising a handful of events was progress.

"Hoosein is seemingly is trying to project that it is only because of the existence of his MAI that Indians could participate abroad. The mere issuance of a licence does not necessarily mean that he helped in their progress. It was the FMSCI that carved the path as well as ensured international recognition for drivers like Hari Singh, Narain Karthikeyan, Naren Kumar, Parthiva Sureshwaren, Karun Chandhok and Asif Nazir, who all were groomed and nurtured in the FMSCI championships," he said.

Asked what view FMSCI chairman Vijay Mallya, who had earlier announced co-existence with the MAI in the interest of the growth of the sport in the country, had taken in view of the Centre's derecognition of the MAI, Madan said Mallya was studying the situation.

Madan said Hoosein's outburst at the Bombay press conference was unwarranted and he reiterated that the FMSCI was only interested in the development of sport in the country and was happy to see more events being organised, adding, "The guidelines laid out by our government have to be followed for all disciplines, either sport or commercial."

UNI