Authorities caught napping as huge disrespect of national emblem in Asian level basketball tournament takes place

What's the story?

In the ongoing Women's Asia Cup which is a FIBA (Federation of Internationale de Basketball) tournament, players are having to continuously stomp and step on the national emblem which has been incorporated in the logo of the tournament and has been used as a decorative motif on the basketball court.

In case you didn't know..

The 2017 FIBA Women's Asia Cup is being held from 23 to 29 July in Bangalore, India and serves as the qualifying tournament for the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Spain.

The matches take place in the Kanteerava Stadium which is a multi purpose stadium and often sees sporting action during Pro Kabaddi League when Bangalore based franchise Bengaluru Bulls host the visiting teams in the stadium.

In the match held on 27th July, India beat Fiji 93-51 in what was their quarter final tie and progressed to the semis.

The heart of the matter

The national emblem of India is highly venerated for its symbolic importance for the whole nation. The ministry of Home Affairs had written to Chief Secretaries and various government departments on the proper use of the State Emblem of India last year in August as well.

It said that unauthorized or incomplete (certain departments were displaying the emblem without the mandatory 'Satyamev Jayate' in Devanagiri script emblazoned below it) use of the emblem was a violation of the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005.

Seeing the wanton disrespect of it, although inadvertently, Shashank Shivkumar, a local citizen and President, Army Forum, a welfare outfit for former defence personnel, brought this matter to the public notice. He said to India Today, "Everybody should respect the national emblem and nobody can play and stomp on it."

The officials went on the defensive when inquired about it and claimed that there was no deliberate intent to disrespect the national emblem. They also passed the buck to FIBA, saying that FIBA designed the logo and the Indian authorities had nothing to do with it.

What's next?

There have also been voices opining that the matter is being blown out of proportion.

Stop this nonsense about what happened at FIBA Women's Asia Cup. They ran on the event logo, not the national emblem. There's a difference!

— Nachiket Deuskar (@PartTimeBowler) July 27, 2017

Author's take

However, now that it's been brought to the notice of media and authorities, some actions aimed at damage control are sure to follow from the Basketball Federation of India. Moreover, greater care will now be taken to avoid such controversies in future by sports bodies as well as stadium authorities.