By Abhishek Roy, IANS,
New Delhi : Former star athletes, who have been invited for the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games, are livid with with the Organising Committee (OC) for not sending them the invitation or the accreditation cards with barely three days to go for the opening ceremony.
Earlier this month, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) asked the national sports federations to inform Arjuna, Dhyanchand, Dronacharya, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardees and the Olympic, Asian Games and Commonwealth gold medallists to send their accreditation forms. Despite submitting all the papers in time, the state associations and the athletes haven’t yet heard from the OC.
Jyotirmoyee Sikdar (Khel Ratna and Padma Shri), Soma Biswas (Arjuna Award), Saraswati Saha (Arjuna Award) and Pinki Pramanick (Doha Asian Games gold medallist) are upset with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI)for treating them shabbily.
Jyotirmoyee, former CPI-M MP from West Bengal, said in India the athletes don’t get their due.
“This shows how the OC treats the athletes in this country. When I was an MP, I was invited for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, but when the Games are held here, I don’t know whether I would be able to witness them,” Jyotirmoyee, who won gold in 800m and 1500m at the 1998 Asian Games, told IANS Thursday.
Celebrated athletes from several other states have also not recieved the invite.
Saraswati, who won the 200 metres gold medal at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, feels it was unfortunate that former athletes are being treated so callously at a time when the Games are held at home.
“We are having a major event here after such a long time and as former athletes we always want to enjoy the occasion. I don’t think we will be lucky this time,” she said.
Soma and Pinki are also Asian Games medallists. Soma won the silver medal at the 2002 and 2006 Asian Games while Pinki gold in Doha and silver in Melbourne in 4×400 metres relay.
West Bengal Athletics Association (WBAA) had sent all particulars about the athletes to the AFI before the Sep 23 deadline.
“We had sent everything before deadline, but we are yet to hear anything from AFI. Despite repeated reminders there is no response and do not know whether the athletes can go to Delhi for the Games,” a top WBAA official told IANS.
The AFI has passed the buck to the OC, saying it has messed it up.
“We can’t be blamed. We were just asked to send the accreditation forms by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The OC is handling all the invitations,” said AFI’s officiating secretary Ravinder Chaudhary.