THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: N S Sijin, coach of middle distance runner P U Chitra, on Monday said the conspiracy behind the exclusion of his trainee from the Indian squad for the IAAF World Championship in Athletics was not hatched in a day.
Sijin said moves against Chitra began ever since the athlete decided to quit the national camp to write her final-year degree examinations against the wish of the Athletics Federation of India. Chitra and her coach were speaking during a press meet organised by the Kerala Kamaraj Congress who conducted a mass run in the city to support Chitra.
“Chitra had asked to leave the camp during her examinations three months back. However, the AFI and their foreign coach were of the opinion that she can write the exams next year. However, we decided not to waste one year as Chitra had scored good marks in all five semesters before,” Sijin said.
“Once she returned to the camp, the foreign coach did not allow Chitra to rejoin for four days and we had complained about this to former athlete Anju Bobby George who told us not to ruffle the feathers of the coach and federation,” he added.
Sijin also said there were moves to exclude Chitra from the Asian Athletics Championships where she eventually won the gold in 1,500 metres. “No other athlete should face such situation again and the governments should take action to avoid this,” he said.