One is not sure how Sunita Rani would react to this but this winter season, officials, who did not stand by her agony trip, have their hands full in clearing the decks for her international return. After the clearance from the International Olympic Committee last month, things have brightened up remarkably for Sunita back home and even Indian officials are back to her side. A stark contrast from the days when Indian officials were not willing to discuss her case but now a week doesn’t pass by when press conferences are organised to announce the clearance from the international body ad nauseum.Sunita’s parent body, the Amateur Athletic Federation of India, whose president Suresh Kalmadi had denounced her in harsh terms when the doping scandal broke, held a full house for the media on Friday to once again repeat that Sunita had been exonerated by the international body. Also present at the conference was lawyer Sushil Salwan whose inquiry report had paved the way for Sunita’s clearance.AAFI secretary Lalit Bhanot had nothing new to add to what the IOA secretary general Randhir Singh had announced last week. But the AAFI press conference had all the resemblance of a major victory being celebrated, with a waiter standing with trays of ladoos in the conference room. Quite predictably, the AAFI official also claimed that he too had advocated Sunita’s innocence when the incident took place in Busan. It would be interesting to know what Sunita has to say about this bout of amnesia. When the scandal broke, the athlete and her family were shocked to find no help from official quarters and turned to the media to highlight the discrepancies in her test reports.Not just the presence of officials, Sunita’s coach, Renu Kohli, who went missing after the scandal broke and was subsequently suspended by the Sports Authority of India, surfaced at the press conference today. Her presence was a reminder to the media that since the charges against Sunita had been dropped, her case too needed to be looked into afresh.AAFI secretary Bhanot told reporters here that the letter from international athletic association had paved the way for Sunita to participate in all national and international meets. Sunita’s medals are expected to be returned by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) by the end of this month. “The return of her medals is a mere formality now,” Bhanot added.That seems easier said than done. According to a top official of the IOA, all the hurdles are not yet cleared for the medals to be returned. A five-member task force in the OCA is looking at the issue and so far three members have already submitted their views. The views of all the members will be forwarded to the executive body of the OCA, which will finally decide the issue. The Koreans, the organiser of the Asian Games, are obviously not pleased that the Seoul lab report has been discredited in order to give the benefit of doubt to the Indian athlete.According to IOA official the final verdict could be out as early as next week but one could still expect more drama in Sunita’s case.
