Can't be part of AICS in Olympic year, says Gopichand

New Delhi, Jan 21 (IANS) Indian badminton national coach Pullela Gopichand was among notable ommissions from the fresh list of members for the All India Council of Sports (AICS) that was announced by the Sports Ministry. But Gopichand said that he had informed the ministry about four months back that he wouldn't be able to attend the meetings as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics draws closer.
"I had told them that this is the Olympic year and so it's not possible for me to attend meetings. This was about four months back," Gopichand told IANS. Former Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia, cricket great Sachin Tendulkar and former chess World Champion Viswanathan Anand are the other notable individuals who were ommitted from the committee as the number of members was pruned to 18 from the original 27. An advisory committee, the AICS was formed in December 2015 during Sarbananda Sonowal's tenure as Sports Minister. Among new names included are cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Krishnamachari Srikanth alongwith Limba Ram (archery), P.T. Usha (athletics), Bachendri Pal (mountaineering), Deepa Malik (para-athlete), Anjali Bhagwat (shooting), Renedy Singh (football) and Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling).
--IANS rkm/bbh