Thakur and Pandey

Ranchi, Oct. 1: In what may pleasantly surprise sports buffs, as many as 10 technical officials and administrators from the state will officiate in the XIX Commonwealth Games in Delhi, beginning October 3.

Five technical experts have been roped in by the Indian Athletics Federation alone to man positions for tracks and field events. Among the five, Sanjesh Mohan Thakur, besides being a qualified technical official for long jump and triple jump events, is also the secretary of Jharkhand Rifle Association.

Like Thakur, Riyaz Khan too specialises in jumping events while S.K. Pandey, a qualified official for throw events like hammer and discus, is also the secretary of state triathlon association. The remaining two technical officials are Kiran Rani Nayak and Ashok Bhattacharjee for tracks events — 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 5,000m and 10,000m.

Bhola Nath Singh, secretary of Jharkhand Wrestling Association and a national-level coach, too will be in Delhi as a technical official for wrestling bouts.

“When we started officiating in athletics meets three decades ago, we did not know that one day we will officiate at an international event,” Thakur said.

“The empanelling of officials was preceded by a background investigation by the police,” he said.

Pandey said he hoped the experience at Commonwealth Games would help him and others improve the technicalities at athletics meets back home.

In addition to these officials, Jai Kumar Sinha, the state secretary of Jharkhand Table Tennis Association and joint secretary of Table Tennis Federation of India, is already in Delhi as competition director. In archery, Harendra Kumar Singh will be on job as chief coach of the Indian contingent.

Further, Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) president R.K. Anand is the chairman of the legal sub-committee, informed JOA treasurer M.K. Pathak, who himself will be there as the manager of the Indian athletics contingent.