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She's a he!

After the disruption of the Indo-Pak cricket match at the Eden Gardens, Calcuttans are struck by another revealation: Bandana Pal, ace striker of the West Bengal woman football squad, is not a woman.

Soccer crazy Calcuttans have heard of dope test vi-a-vis football. But a sex test ?

Yes, that has exactly what happened at Imphal in Manipur. And Bandana came back to Calcutta after she failed the test.

Bandana was part of the West Bengal women's football team which had gone to participate in the National Games being held at Imphal.

According to reports, the moment the West Bengal squad landed at the Games camp, doubts were raised about Bandana.

It was the Punjab football squad which raised the objection regarding this female striker. Punjab women's team coach, Joginder Singh, questioned Bandana’s feminity.

He lodged a complaint with the National Games Committee and demanded that she be given a sex test.

In fact, Singh’s protest had some grounds as Bandana’s sex had come under scrutiny on an earlier occasion.

During a medical examination at the Asian Games camp at the Sports Authority of India complex in Calcutta, Bandana’s feminity was doubted. The authorities kept the issue a secret as they though it might affect the footballer’s future and her life in general.

However, she was excluded from the women's football squad which went to the Asian Games in Bangkok last year.

Borchand, the manager of that team, knew the reason for her exclusion. It is the same Borchand who is director of the football tournament at the National Games at Imphal.

West Bengal will take on Manipur in the finals of the event, and Bandana's exclusion has given Manipur an edge. When the two teams met in the last final of the women’s national league, it was Bandana who scored against Manipur and brought the championship to Bengal.

After Bandana failed the sex test at Imphal, the Games authorities informed the chef de mission about the outcome and asked him not to field Bandana in future matches. She was asked to leave the camp and return to Calcutta.

This has led to strong resentment among the others in the West Bengal women's squad.

However, the woman footballers of Manipur are happy as their defenders will not have to be under pressure from Bandana’s swift dribbling and strong shots.

While Bandana is confused about her future as a woman footballer, a war of words has started between the All India Football Federation and the Indian Football Association.

According to AIFF officials, the IFA knew the reason behind Bandana’s exclusion from the Asian Games squad. Then why did they send him/her to Imphal to participate in the National Games?

According to Ashok Ghosh, vice-president of the AIFF, “It was a mistake on the IFA’s part which has spoilt an asset of West Bengal football. Being manager of the Asian Games squad, Borchand knew very well the reason behind Bandana’s exclusion and the IFA, by including her in the team, has provided the weapon to Borchand”.

IFA officials argued that the AIFF did not give any report nor verbally inform them about this problem. “It is a conspiracy against the West Bengal women's football team”, IFA officials alleged.

However, the IFA is unwilling to accept the medical examination conducted at Imphal. “We doubt whether the test conducted was scientific and whether it has the approval of the Indian Olympic Association. It is a conspiracy to put West Bengal under pressure and win the gold”, they alleged.

At the same time, assistant manager of the Indian team for the Asian Games, Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar, said that it was a fact Bandana had at first failed in the sex test before the team left for Bangkok. But subsequently she passed various medical examinations and there was no question about her feminity, Dastidar said.

Bandana’s well-wishers claimed that those reports were in their poessession and they would prove that she was a woman.

Bandana’s personal coach too alleged that this was a conspiracy to “destroy her career as many could not compete with her skill”.

But a basic question has been raised by many soccer fans in Calcutta. Bandana got a job in the Income Tax department in the sports quota. She plays for the department’s women's football team, which is very famous in Calcutta.

“In order to get a job in any Central government department one has to undergo a medical examination. How could she get a job as a female employee, if she is not a woman ?” they asked.

The incident has set Calcutta abuzz, and the debate promises to get more heated in the days to come.