OP Jaisha Row: Sports Minister Forms Panel to Probe Allegations Against Officials
OP Jaisha, who collapsed at the end of the marathon race in Rio 2016, had alleged that Indian athletics officials were not present to offer refreshments during her race
Highlights
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Marathoner Jaisha accused AFI officials of not offering her refreshments
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She added that she could have died during the marathon at Rio Olympics
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Sports Minister Vijay Goel has formed 2-member panel to look into charges
Sports minister Vijay Goel, on Tuesday, has constituted a two-member committee to probe marathon runner OP Jaisha's allegations that no Indian athletics officials were present to offer her support during her event in Rio Olympics 2016.
OP Jaisha collapsed at the end of the marathon run and the athlete told NDTV on Monday that there were no Indian officials present to provide her water and energy drinks at refreshment points en route the 42.195 km race.
Senior officials of the Athletics Federation of India have pooh-pooed Jaisha's allegations and AFI secretary CK Valson has even said that OP Jaisha is giving excuses after faring poorly in her race.
"She underperformed in the marathon, maybe that's why she has thrown this blame," Valson has said. The 33-year-old OP Jaisha finished 89th among 168 runners.
Onkar Kedia, joint secretary (Sports) and Vivek Narayan, director (sports) will be part of the probe committee. They will submit their report in seven days.
OP Jaisha and the AFI are locked in a war of words.
"Why should I lie? There was no water in Rio," Jaisha told NDTV, rejecting an AFI statement that Indian runners had refused the offer to have refreshments served at the counters that Indian officials could have manned.
"Both Kavita Raut and I know there was no water... After 21 km, I was really exhausted, couldn't even walk for a metre," Jaisha said.
Interestingly, Kavita has contradicted what Jaisha has said.
"Athletics federation told us in the evening during assembly that if we have any personal drink we should put it in the bottle provided to us and hand it over to them. I am telling you about myself and I refused to take anything. I have no such complaint," Kavita said.