MALDIVES: When former foreign minister Sushma Swaraj visited the Maldives in March, she received an unusual request to help build a cricket stadium. The request was received while on the discussion on cooperation in youth affairs and sports.
Sensing an opportunity to use its soft power to draw the strategically situated archipelago on its orbit, India indicated that it would away the embrace of strategic rival China through an undeniable connect. On Saturday, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral visit to Maldives, said that India will build a stadium which is likely to be situated on an south island of North Male atoll, Hulhumale.
Last week ahead of Modi’s first overseas trip after taking office for a second straight term on 30 May, India’s foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said, “A team from the BCCI visited the Maldives earlier in May for training Maldivian cricketers, organizing coaching programmes and supply of kits.”
India has a word in giving training young Maldivian men and women in cricket. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been swift off the mark, posting a team in May to assess the support needed by Maldives.
However, according to news record, the Maldives national cricket team made its T20 international debut in January following the ICC decision. The governing body of the island nation, the Cricket Board of Maldives became a member of Asian Cricket Counsel and an affiliate of the ICC in 1998.
Foreign secretary Gokhale said, “They would also like us to do some training programmes in the Maldives, not only for players but also for coaches, scorers, umpires and match referees.”
“If you look at the map, India is the Maldives’ closest neighbour. India has always been the first responder in any crisis that Maldives faced. Naturally, India was concerned that the Yameen government was insensitive to Indian interests and was getting close to China in all spheres,” said a person in a development said.
