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  Mark Mascarenhas
From Bangalore to Connecticut, and from doing commentary on All India Radio to founding WorldTel, Mark Mascarenhas has come a long way. The bespectacled, beefy bossman of the sports telecast and marketing firm which promotes batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar left India in 1976 at the age of 19 and went to America to do his Master's in communication. As a student of Christ College, Bangalore, he had played alongside cricketers like Brijesh Patel, who was representing India at the time.

After staying away from cricket for 16 years, Mascarenhas got back into the thick of things when he learnt that India was to stage the 1996 World Cup and the organising committee was looking for someone to buy the television rights of the tournament. That was in April 1993. Four months later, WorldTel had won the rights for the tournament, jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Today the man who started WorldTel in 1989 after brief stints with radio broadcasting stations in the US, including WCBS, which was CBS's number one news radio station, is in the eye of a storm, accused of allegedly depriving Doordarshan of $4 million in respect of telecast rights for the International Cricket Council's knockout tournament in Dhaka in October 1998.

In an exclusive interview with Faisal Shariff, Mascarenhas, who has an amazing ability to remember dates and figures, attempts to clear the air about any wrongdoing by his company or himself. He explains his relationship with Jagmohan Dalmiya and staunchly supports the former ICC chief. In Real Audio.

    Why are World Tel and Mark Mascarenhas always viewed with
    suspicion? Why is this company shrouded in mystery?
audio  Click here

    Are you say that all the documents produced by Arun Aggarwal are
    baseless and untrue?
audio Click here

    You say that you have never got a tournament for free. But that is not     the argument. The claim is that you have got rights at dirt cheap rates.
    How do you counter those allegations?
audio Click here

    Do you have facts to back up your statemants?
audio Click here

    What about your relationship with the ICC chief Jagmohan Dalmiya?
    There has been a lot of speculation about your links with him in
   getting WorldTel exclusive rights.
audio  Click here

    People talk about Sharjah. What happened in Sharjah?
audioClick here

    What are you planning to do now ?
audio  Click here

    Are you denying the allegations made about the ICC knock-out?
audio Click here

    How do you think tournaments at off-shore globalises the game ?
    Besides, the television rights, what are the other facts influencing it?
audioClick here

    Why is it that everytime Mr.Dalmiya speaks about globalising the
   sport it lands up in Dhaka? Why only Dhaka?
audioClick here

    Do you think corruption starts from the top?
audioClick here

    But can the argument that he is a rich man be used as a parameter
   to declare him innocent ? Even Hansie Cronje is a rich man.
audioClick here

    Do you have any business association with Dalmiya?
audioClick here

    Do you think cricket can be globalised this way?
audioClick here

    Is it true that you were instrumental in getting the ban on Shoaib
   Akhtar lifted, since he happens to be associated with World Tel ?
    What role did you play in getting Shoaib reinstated into international
   cricket?
audioClick here

    Besides Holding, there were other respected cricketers like Bobby
    Simpson on the panel. Does their view not count?
audioClick here

    Why do you say that?
audioClick here

    How do you compare the two phases in world cricket-- Before
   Mr.Dalmiya took over, and after he was appointed ICC chief?
audioClick here

    You are so passionate about cricket. Then why is it that you have
   never thought of promoting the game in India and following it on the
   lines of the Premier League in England?
audioClick here

    So, how do you envision cricket spreading in the U.S.?
audioClick here

    So what do you feel should be done?
audioClick here

    You mean David Richards is not the right man for the job?
audioClick here

    What was your reaction to Hansie Cronje's involvement in the
   match-fixing scandal? You mean to say that you hadn't ever heard of
   any player being involved in match-fixing earlier
audioClick here

    Do you ever bet on cricket?
audioClick here

    Do you ever bet at all?
audioClick here

    Why does the ICC have an account in the British Virgin Islands?
audioClick here

    Do you have any stake in that company?
audioClick here

    What about Lancaster Holdings? The company where you allegedly
   have a stake in?
audioClick here

    Why did you choose to promote Sachin Tendulkar?
audioClick here

   







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