SC allows rowing Olympian to take up umpires' exam

The Supreme Court today allowed India's first rowing Olympian and Arjuna awardee Subedar Inderpal Singh, facing a two-year ban, to appear in the upcoming examinations for selection of umpires for the water sport.
A vacation bench of Justices A K Sikri and U U Lalit also asked the Andhra Pradesh High Court to "expeditiously" decide the plea of Singh against his two-year ban by the Rowing Federation of India (RFI).
During the brief hearing, the counsel for the Olympian said the delay would render his plea "infructuous" in the high court.
"The best thing, on the part of the High court, would have been to decide the plea," the bench said while disposing it.

Singh was a coach of the Services Sports Control Board team for the national rowing championship in February last year.
The sportsperson, in his plea, had alleged rampant irregularities in the functioning of the RFI, which he claimed was being controlled by a politician's family for nearly three decades.

He had claimed he was being victimised for complaining forcefully to the jury that the organisers were not following rules and regulations.
The jury, instead of looking into his complaint, arbitrarily slapped him with a two-year ban, he alleged and sought relief from the apex court.
Singh claimed he was targeted because he had earned the wrath of the politician's family which has controlled the RFI for the last three decades.