CHENNAI: Asian Games selection-related issues are now threatening to grow into an adult chimera. In the latest in a litany of Indian athletes being forced to miss the bus to big-ticket events because of late submission of names, it looks like the entire taekwondo contingent might be staying at home.
After weeks of lobbying with officials and crying foul, sports secretary Rahul Bhatnagar, who was asked to ‘act as a one-man committee for reviewing the selection of the sportspersons to represent India in the sport of taekwondo’ by the Delhi High Court, recommended three names (two men and one woman) to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
Those three names were, as per protocol, forwarded to the Asian Games Organising Committee. The matter was supposed to have ended there. However, Express has learnt that the OC has rejected the names of all three competitors as they were submitted after the June 30 deadline. “Their names have been rejected but we have asked them to reconsider,” a senior IOA official told this newspaper. “It could be because there was a delay in their accreditation.”
The sports ministry also sang from the hymn sheet. “It’s possible because the names obviously went late.
We haven’t received any official communication as of now.” Bhatnagar, whose decision the court said would be final on this matter, had been appointed as a one-man panel after six taekwondo players had moved it. Their petitions said that selection of athletes for the Asian Games had not been conducted in the proper manner.
TFI blames ministry ban
While the Taekwondo Federation of India remain hopeful that their athletes will make the cut, they have wasted little time in blaming the ministry for this mess. “This is because of nonrecognition of the sport by the sports ministry,” Prabhat Kumar Sharma, secretary of the body, claimed. The federation had been derecognised by the ministry in 2014.
According to the official, the issue started when the sports ministry asked them to not hold trials. The federation wanted to host in April and later in June but the ministry, Sharma claimed, denied them permission to hold trials. “We then approached the sports ministry, who told us they would direct Executive Director, Teams, Sports Authority of India to hold the trials,” said Sharma. SAI apparently told the federation that an ad hoc committee of the IOA will select the players. “But until June 26, however, there was no communication to the IOA. By the time we sat down for selection, it was around June 28-29.” swaroop@newindianexpress.com
MIRABAI TRAINING WITHOUT PAIN
Mirabai Chanu, who suffered a freak back injury during a high altitude camp in May, has started to lift weights without feeling any pain. “She has been training for a 4-5 days now and is not feeling any pain,” national coach Vijay Sharma told this newspaper. “But we have to wait for the federation to give the green signal.”