Date:18/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/18/stories/2007061801481900.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Faulty Indian map withdrawn

New Delhi: Organisers of the six-nation BDO Champions Challenge hockey tournament in Boom, Belgium, have withdrawn the distorted Indian map placed on its official website after a report about it hit the headlines on Sunday.

The website carried the Indian map without the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and had a few other distortions to the original sketch issued by the Government. It showed the PoK area as part of Pakistan.

The map also featured a flawed outline of neighbouring Sri Lanka, with its southern portions shown as a straight line.

The organisers had not responded to e-mails by PTI seeking their reactions to the faux pas.

After the report was published in several papers on Sunday, the host withdrew the map from the website. Now, under the team profile section, only the tricolour is seen when one clicks on India. However, the website retains maps of other participating nations.

During the World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany, last year, the Indian side had faced similar disgrace as the National anthem was played wrongly before some matches and forced the team management to lodge a complaint to the Organising Committee.

The issue was widely reported in the media and the organisers had then corrected the goof-up.

The Champions Challenge, to be held from June 23 to July 1, is a crucial tournament before the Olympic qualifiers.

The Prabodh Tirkey-led Indian team is in Germany playing some practice games in the run-up to the tournament in which Argentina, England, New Zealand, Japan and host Belgium will also take part.

India takes on New Zealand in the opener of the event on June 23. — PTI