Root of the problem

Manisha Malhotra, administrator, Mittal Champions Trust, said Sushmita’s contract was terminated as she did not want to train abroad. “Environment in Europe and the US is more conducive to achieving high class performance in sports than Kolkata. And we are not aiming for Asian medals, but we want world class performance. We wanted Sushmita to train abroad for a major part of the year, but her coach did not agree,” she said.

Kuntal Roy, SAI coach, said Manisha may have been good in tennis, but she failed to chalk out a good programme in athletics. “Professionally Manisha needs to update her knowledge on the subject. A good coach is a must when training abroad for a long duration. In case of Sushmita, the trust could not arrange one. Training under an ordinary coach wasn’t acceptable to us. The US conditioning expert wasn’t good enough. Also, his behaviour off the field was not acceptable to Sushmita.”