Belarus was pathetic, we went because of Malleswari: Pratima

Not only did Pratima — who returned from Athens on August 16 after testing positive four days earlier — criticise the ‘‘poor training facilities’’ in Minsk, she even suggested that it was a ‘‘major risk’’ sending the athletes to these former Soviet countries, where doping was rampant.

Talking about the ordeal she and her fellow lifters had to face during their stay, Pratima said that they were forced to train at a basketball court where foreign coach Leonid Taranenko would place a platform in a corner for them to practice after the hoopsters had vacated the court in the evening.

‘‘It was pathetic, to say the least. You can imagine our plight when we had to lift weights at a small corner of a dingy hall after waiting for a long time. We could never straightaway go and start our practice, we had to wait till the Belarus players had finished.’’

Pratima, who was making her maiden trip to Minsk, said she and another lifter were not keen on the trip, particularly because she was doing well, but they had to give in because Karnam Malleswari had suggested that Taranenko’s hometown had better facilities.

‘‘I was lifting 235kg in India and this was enough for a medal at Athens. But Malli spoke high of the facilities there and we had to go along with her because of her seniority. Even the federation accepted her theory,’’ said the Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

On rampant doping, Pratima said that she did not realise it until she returned positive at the Olympics. ‘‘Earlier, I used to think that if somebody wanted to dope they can do so in India itself. Then why go to a European country for that? But now I do realise that because the labels of medicines/injections are in Russian, it becomes easy for the coaches to administer them without anyone questioning. Even if you do, they simply brush it aside.’’

This seems to substantiate what has long been suspected of the East European connection and the frequent visits of our teams to these states.