Tamil Nadu: Class 11 taekwondo athlete alleges physical assault; coach refutes charge
THOOTHUKUDI: A class 11 taekwondo athlete has alleged that a coach affiliated with the Taekwondo Federation of India physically assaulted him inside a train coach while they were returning from a national tournament held in Jaipur last week. The 17-year-old boy has been admitted to Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital.
The athlete belongs to the Thiruvananthapuram National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) and represented Tamil Nadu at the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) tournament in Jaipur. He met media persons at the hospital and said he had lodged a complaint regarding the physical assault with the Salem railway police.
"We were returning to Thiruvananthapuram after the tournament when the coach, R Barathi, hit me for not winning the gold medal. Later, he checked my phone and found audio messages about him that I had sent to my friends. Irked over the chat against him, the coach again assaulted me," the boy said.
When contacted, Barathi, who had been training the complainant since the latter was eight years old, told TNIE that he had only rebuked the boy for getting distracted from the game and also for verbally abusing him.
"Punishments are a part of sports. I chided him so that he would not lose his benefits at the NCOE. I did not injure him. Everything was done purely as a part of sportsmanship," he said.
Barathi is the head coach of the state Taekwondo team. His daughter was also a part of the team.