Eyes wide shut

It was a day Vazhapilli Suresh Surekha experienced the highs and lows of Indian sports. After breaking the national women8217;s pole vault ...

It was a day Vazhapilli Suresh Surekha experienced the highs and lows of Indian sports. After breaking the national women8217;s pole vault record 8212; the only new mark set the 44th National Open Athletics Championship 8212; the Best Athlete of the meet had to wait for nearly six hours to receive her gold medal. And that too was handed to her in the most insulting way.

As the day8217;s sporting action ended, the organisers diverted all their attention to the VVIPs 8212; Sports Minister Sunil Dutt and IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi 8212; who graced the closing ceremony. With no signs of their medals despite their six-hour wait, the winners were losing patience. As complaints mounted, the organisers decided to have 8216;mass medal distribution8217;.

In a chaotic scene at the innconous meet office, which resembled a drought-relief camp, nearly 25 to 30 medal winners jostled with each other to lay their hands on their prized possessions. In the midst of this chaos the dimunititve 20-year-old pole-vaulter was unceremoniously handed her medal by an office-bearer of the Bombay City District Amateur Athletic Association BCDAA. No pomp, no podium; just plain humiliation.

The closing ceremony lasting nearly two hours saw speakers waxing eloquent on the athletes performances. Some even took a dig at corporates for catering to cricket neglecting other sports. When in fact, neglect was within handshaking distance from them.

During her six hour wait Surekha got to know from the public address system that she had been adjudged the Best Athlete of the Meet. But her reaction wasn8217;t quite euphoric. 8216;8216;I8217;ve got everything except my medal,8217;8217; the commercial clerk with Southern Railway was heard telling her teammates.

Even after getting the medal, Surekha8217;s troubles were far from over. It was already past 6 p.m. and she had a train to catch at 8.30 p.m. In between she had to make a dash to her local residence, pack her bags before making it to Dadar station 8212; all of which also involved travelling 30 kilometres.

Adille Sumariwalla, former National sprint champion and organising secretary of the meet was emphatic in stating there had been no ill-treatment to the athletes. 8216;8216;I have been a national champion for seven years and I have seen these things happening on the last day of every National Championship. We can definitely improve on these things. But you are unneccesarily making an issue out of it. The media has a big role in ruining other sports in the country.8217;8217;