The Beijing Olympics are 13 days away but the games to get favoured individuals a place on the Indian contingent as officials have begun in right earnest
NEW DELHI: The Beijing Olympics are 13 days away but the games to get favoured individuals a place on the Indian contingent as officials have begun in right earnest.
IOA president Suresh Kalmadi insists that his body has been forced to prune the needs of 11 national associations to a set number of 42 officials as allowed by International Olympic Council. These include the support staff of coaches and trainers for the 57 athletes who will represent India.
When asked to list out the precise names Kalmadi assured that these are no secret but from thereon no one in the IOA could trace the missing list to be handed out to the media. That document will of course be interesting reading when it comes to light but the body has chosen to ignore some deserving candidates while favouring others for no logical sporting reason.
The South African physio and trainer Heath Mathews, who Indian Boxing Federation secretary Col Muralidharan Raja terms as “one of the best in the world”, has been left out.
Matthews has been working with boxers like medal prospect Akhil Kumar for over a year and has been with the five-member squad at their Patiala camp for close to a month now. “Not taking Heath along will be a big blow. He has been crucial in my recovery from a career-ending injury and he knows the precise needs of each member of the team. We must have him at Beijing,” says medal prospect Akhil.
The need for a phyiso in a contact sport need not be stressed. Mathews who has been brought to India by the Mittal Champions Trust has also been working with the Trust’s 13 athletes who will be participating at the Olympics including the badminton sensation Saina Nehwal. Further he has been pivotal in the recovery of Mahesh Bhupathi from a debilitating back injury as well as being Sania Mirza’s erstwhile trainer. As such he is familiar with the needs of 15 of the 57 participants from India; leaving him behind makes little sense.
On the other hand the four-strong Indian tennis contingent not only has three support members to back Leander Paes, Bhupathi and Mirza but IOA has also managed to find a spot for the woman player’s mother Nasima Mirza. As to just how a parent can be accommodated within one team and a top-notch support staff member excluded from another is known to IOA alone.
Kalmadi says: “Now that Mathews case has been brought to my notice we will make arrangements.”
IOA secretary Randhir Singh gives a new twist to the whole deal by implying that the IBF itself chose to push the case of a certain Nirmolak Singh over Mathews: “Nirmolak will be going along to attend to the team’s medical needs. We can only go by the association’s recommendation. However, now we will try to accommodate Heath
Mathews too.”
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