Athelete Santhi attempts suicide

Middle-distance runner Santhi Sounderrarajan, whose achievement of winning a silver in the women’s 800m in the Asian Games in December 2006 had come under a cloud after she failed gender test, on Wednesday attempted suicide.

Middle-distance runner Santhi Sounderrarajan, whose achievement of winning a silver in the women’s 800m in the Asian Games in December 2006 had come under a cloud after she failed gender test, on Wednesday attempted suicide. Doctors at the Pudukkottai General Hospital where she was first taken in the morning said her condition was stable. She is now in the Thanjavur Government Hospital, Pudkkottai District Superintendent of Police Kapil Saratkar told The Indian Express.

There is speculation that a letter from the state Government requesting her to return the medal could have prompted Santhi to attempt suicide. The state Secretary for Sports and Youth Welfare, M Raman, however, said the medal had not been with her and “domestic issues” were behind the step. “We have not registered any case against her. Santhi is fine now and we have been talking to her,” said the SP, pointing out that Santhi rarely came to her village (Kathakkurichi near Pudukkottai).

“This morning, around 10.30 am, the woman was brought to the Pudukkottai hospital after she consumed some veterinary medicine,” said Saratkar.

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Santhi shot into limelight after she passed out on the tracks on touching the finishing line second in the Doha Games. However, the 25-year-old’s glory was short-lived after she failed the gender test and was asked to return the silver medal.

However, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi felicitated the athlete on her return to India, handing her a gift cheque for Rs 15 lakh and a Plasma 42-inch colour television for her family and told her that he “believed her”.

Santhi herself had maintained that she had not received any message from the Doha Committee. “The medal is with me and as far as I am concerned I believe I have won it. I also received the Chief Minister’s blessings,” she had told reporters in Chennai.

She and her parents, S Manimekalai and M Sounderrajan, had met the Chief Minister to show him the medal. The family’s abject poverty had driven the girl to take up athletics in the hope it would give her fame and a job. But a Government job continued to evade her.

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Meanwhile, the Southern Railways Hospital in Chennai disclosed that Santhi had failed a gender verification test two years ago.

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