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Journalism of Courage
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has set up a three-member panel to probe the conduct of the missing athletes from the ongoing National camp. And the Patiala Sports Authority of India (SAI), which sponsors the camp, has now issued orders not to allow the athletes in question from joining the camp till the inquiry is complete.
If the athletes in question don’t explain their conduct prior to the season-opening domestic meet (February 15) they will be barred from that competition and possibly also from another domestic competition, four days later.
But here is the catch. If the athletes give a satisfactory explanation, they will be able to take part in the Federation Cup, which is a qualifying tournament, according to AFI secretary Lalit Bhanot.
More interestingly, the Federation Cup, originally scheduled for February 24, has now been put off by four days. The official reason forwarded for this is “lack of accommodation,” but rumours are that it is to give the athletes enough time to “come clean”. The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) officials’ scare hasn’t receded.
The AFI, according to Bhanot, has already started the probe and letters have been sent to the respective athletes for explaining their conduct.
How long will the AFI committee, headed by Sushil Salwan, take to complete the inquiry? “As soon as possible”, said Bhanot. It has also not been decided yet who the other two members of the committee will be.
It has been almost a week since the athletes “disappeared”. After the previous weekend, some of the country’s top athletes were supposed to join the camp on Monday, but didn’t do so. Only on the list – quarter miler Bhupinder Singh — is reportedly back. Moreover, it was without informing the concerned officials in-charge of the camp.
The delay in joining the camp, the AFI secretary said, had nothing to do with the fear of the WADA officials, who had gone to Patiala for collecting samples of some of the top athletes.
But that is the interesting part. Not just the 12 on the WADA list, but even other top athletes had stayed away from the camp. Of them quarter miler Satbir Singh is back today, it was learnt.
Staying away were India’s top woman 400m runner Manjit Kaur and discus thrower Seema Antil.
However, the two who are back are reportedly not staying on the campus. It is understandable that the SAI fiat prevents Bhupinder from staying on the campus, but why even Satbir is staying away remains unexplained.
Surprisingly, just as the AFI who took its own time to start its inquiry, the SAI corporate office also reacted quite late. The SAI decision not to allow the athletes from joining the camp apparently came only when the AFI initiated a probe.
