The Olympic qualifying event, India Grand Prix, was held without electricity at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, and since hand recordings are not considered valid, Odisha sprinters Srabani Nanda and Amiya Mallick missed out on qualification.
Gold medal winners at Indian Grand Prix, Odisha sprinters Srabani Nanda and Amiya Mallick might not qualify for the Rio Olympics due to manual time recording and two BJD MPs from the state on Monday said they will raise the matter in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
"I have already served notice to the Rajya Sabha authorities to raise the matter during the Zero Hour. Both Nanda and Mallick should not have been denied the opportunity. This is most unfortunate that there is politics in sports," Rajya Sabha MP and former Indian Hockey captain Dillip Tirkey told a local television channel.
Another BJD MP Bhupinder Singh, a former Odisha sports minister, also wrote to the Union Sports Minister demanding re-test of running of both Nanda and Mallick. "I will join Tirkey in the Rajya Sabha," Singh said.
India Grand Prix, an Olympic qualifying event, was held without electricity at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi which led to results being recorded manually. Hand timings are not considered valid for record purposes and hence will not be counted for Olympic qualifications.
Mallick and Nanda were credited with incredible hand-timings of 10.09secs and 11.23 secs to win the men's and women's 100m sprint races. The Rio qualifications norms are 10.16 secs and 11.32 secs. Both Odisha MPs expressed displeasure over the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Delhi State Athletics Association's (DSAA) ways of handling the qualifying events.
Nilamadhav Deo, the coach of both the players, said "This is injustice. The authorities cannot discourage the players, instead of encouraging them."
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