HYDERABAD: With the sun setting on the 14th National Youth Athletics Championship here in the city, overall victors Haryana were expected to walk off into the sunset. Instead, the 50-odd contingent will be worried after one of their male athletes was accused of impersonation by former World Championship bronze medallist Anju Bobby George and the Kerala team. In Anju’s words, the incident took place during the medley relay event on the third and final day. “After finishing one of the laps, one of the boys just kept running and went out of the scene and didn’t come back,” she told Express.
Haryana claimed gold in the event but the former Olympian alleged that it was not the same boy who had run the race. “I’m 100 per cent sure that it was not the same person.” As soon as the race ended, the former long jumper set out to locate the mystery boy. When the Haryana camp presented the said participant in front of her, she refused to accept him as the same competitor. “The pictures clearly show that he was wearing a wrist band and necklace while running.
Where did all of that suddenly disappear? The boy in the picture looks quite muscular too. We are always vigilant about malpractice but these keep happening,” Anju, who was present at GMC Balayogi Athletics Stadium as an AFI observer, said. The athlete in question said that his mother had given the bands to wear during the race. “I removed it after the race. My teammates know that I am the one,” he told in his defence. Kerala team coach Rajeevan K cited the team photographer as the person who spotted the incident. “He found about it while looking at the photographs,” Rajeevan said.
An Athletics Federation of India representative lodged Kerala’s complain and said that due diligence would be done. Anju also lamented the fact that there is huge gap between senior and youth-level athletes.
“Youth athletes have a tough time assembling for camps because of their studies and this needs to be addressed urgently. My academy in Bengaluru has tied up with Sports Authority of India and we are taking care of the athletes’ studies as well,” Anju said, while hinting that the process of approaching the Court of Arbitration for Sports to claim her Athens Olympics medal in long jump is also underway.
Overall championship: Haryana (166.5 points).Team championships: Boys: Haryana (108.5). Girls: Kerala (100). Best athletes: Boys: Damneet Singh (Punjab, Javelin throw) 1082 pts. Girls: Aparna Roy (Kerala, 100m hurdles) 981 pts.
vishal@newindianexpress.com