Russian swimmer missing in Turkey!
Nikolai Svechnikov, a Russian swimmer, 29-year-old, has gone missing during an open-water race in Turkey. Nikolai reportedly failed to reach the final line of the 6.5km Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim on Sunday night, which had more than 2800 athletes competing from 81 countries. Organizers told the Russian state agency RIA Novosti that he may have suffered fatigue, a cramp or been carried off by currents, while relatives insisted he was in good health and had trained for months. The Bosphorus is a natural strait in Turkey that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the continental boundary between Europe and Asia. Much chaos has ensued since. The swimmer’s friend has been quoted by RIA Novosti as saying that the first stage of the search began only two hours after the end of the competition: “Nikolai arrived in Istanbul to participate in the swim. His wife wrote to me at 17:00 that Nikolai still had not arrived. No one took any action until 16:00, they started searching from that time.” Nikolai Svechnikov’s wife has also reportedly flown out to Turkey to seek help from the Russian embassy. “The coast guard told me verbally: Be assured, all services are searching for Nikolai. I cried and begged them to show me video footage or a search point. They just took my number and repeated: ‘Don’t worry, we’re looking for him,’” a relative told RIA Novosti.
ISL’s best assistant referee disappointed with ‘new guideline’ for the referees; AIFF unlikely to implement it
Sudeep Pakrashi: Kishan Chand Joshi wants to say goodbye to referring! The reason is the All India Football Federation’s new policy on referees by its referee committee. The new policy that was surprisingly circulated to the country’s some category-1 and category-2 referees in WhatsApp messages said that the referees who failed to pass the Fitness Test twice for the 2024-25 season would be demoted from their respective categories in the 2025-26 season. The Delhi-based referee who received the award of best assistant referee of the ISL 2022-23 raises voice against the policy. While speaking to Parallel Sports from Delhi on Tuesday, Joshi said, “Yes, I failed the Fitness Test, conducted in August last year. Then a Fitness test was again conducted just before the ISL and I passed that. I also failed the same Fitness Test, held in July this year. “But does that mean a category-2 referee would be dropped to category-6? If you fail the final in the 12th standard examination, do you start studying from the fifth standard? Or are you asked to prepare for the examination in the fifth standard? Couldn’t it have been realistic that they demoted me from category-2 to category-3 for failing in the Fitness Test instead of category-6?” The 41-year-old referee, who is also surprised to have seen the AIFF Referees’ Committee’s decision, asked, “Even after failing in the Fitness Test last year, how was I allowed to officiate nine ISL matches, including a Play-Off match and five I-League matches last season?” Kishan concluded, “I do not want to continue refereeing. I am 41 years old. I have no regrets. I worked as both an assistant and a match-officiating referee in the country’s top-tier football as well as internationally. But if nobody stands against this unfair policy now, it will continue to affect future generations of referees. Someone has to stand up for what is right.” However, it is believed that the AIFF referees’ Committee is unlikely to implement the ‘new guidelines’ of drastically demoting the referees from their respective categories. It is also believed that retainment of referees in their respective categories is likely to be implemented and it is waiting for th approval from executive committee.
