Girl Interrupted

In a cricket-mad country, it is only major controversies in other sports which can boast of staying in public memory. The frame of a harried...

In a cricket-mad country, it is only major controversies in other sports which can boast of staying in public memory. The frame of a harried Sunita Rani running from scores of clicking flashblubs after the 8216;doping scandal8217; at the Busan Asian Games will be one of the most enduring images of 2002.

The fact of the matter is that by the end of the year the top brasses of the Indian Olympic Association were proved wrong and Sunita is on the verge of getting her medals back.

The girl from remote Sunam in Punjab will usher the new year by erasing the ignominous tag of 8216;disgraced middle distance runner8217; after temporarily haunting her.

The three-month long drama beginning from Sunita8217;s early 8216;conviction8217; of the charges to receiving the clean chit from the highest body in sport, reflected once again a poor image of Indian sports administrators.

They manipulated the athletes8217; success and basked in their glory but failed to stand by them in their hour of need.

The IOA president Suresh Kalmadi was the first one to condemn the athlete in the harshest words and did not even bother to wait for an internal inquiry.

In fact, with the officials distancing themselves from the distance runner her family turned to the media to fight her case.

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Interestingly, officials who were obviously aware of the abnormal discrepancies in the content of the banned substances nandralone in both her test reports were quiet about it until media reports highlighted them. In their frustration, Sunita and her family often alleged that there was a conspiracy to defame her.

The biggest loser in the controversy was probably the sport. Indian athletics, not new to the global menace, lost its innocence in public gaze. Sunita was cleared of the charges since there were abnormal differences in the reports of the two tests but there was plenty to read between the lines.

Brothers8217; full court press
They were the ones who started visiting the media office first after they saw their sister in a hopeless situation. Since no Indian official was willing to help them, Sunita8217;s brothers Shinder Pal and Ashok Goyal worked behind the scene to ensure that the discrepancies in the doping test reports were highlighted in the media. In fact, the duo worked hard to brief every single reporter concerned with the case and carried huge bunch of files to offices with examples of past incidents where the offenders got cleared. They were media-savvy and were careful not to annoy any section. Even a 8216;leak8217; was carefully distributed to newspaper offices and TV channels.

Order, order: Salwan
Sushil Salwan was probably the last person one expected to meet in the dingy office of the Amateur Athletic Federation of India but the suave lawyer, who incidentally is also on the legal panel of the athletic federation was asked to conduct the inquiry into Sunita Rani8217;s case. As Salwan took over the inquiry, he sounded enthusiastic and talked about bringing 8216;8216;others to task, if Sunita was indeed guilty8217;8217;. Surprisingly, Salwan sounded quite disillusioned towards the end of the inquiry. His report was quite hard-hitting at the 8216;system8217; and the good lawyer can now sleep peacefully. The 8216;system8217; ensured that Sunita was given the benefit of the doubt so that the can of worms remained closed.