Email
Print
ShareHyderabad: A promising woman boxer was found dead in her hostel room at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The police said S Amaravati, 20, winner of several national-level junior and senior boxing championships, committed suicide.
"It looks like she consumed some poisonous liquid," said inspector Sudarshan of the Saifabad police station. Though the police are yet to ascertain why Amaravati, a resident of Chintalbasti in Hyderabad, took the extreme step, her family has blamedit on the alleged "abusive behaviour" of her coach Omkar Yadav.
But investigators have not ruled out the possibility of a failed love affair leading to the suicide. Amaravati was undergoing coaching at the centre of excellence of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) for the past three years. About 17 other women boxers are also getting training at the centre.
Amaravati represented the state in several boxing championships, winning a silver medal in 2004 and a bronze in 2006. But she lost the quarterfinals of a senior championship at Tatanagar recently.
"When she came home the last time, she complained that the coach was insulting her for the defeat in the quarterfinals," her brother Shanker alleged. Andhra sports minister K Venkata Reddy ordered a "thorough inquiry" into the case, but Yadav denied that he had harassed the boxer.
"She was like my daughter. I was shocked to know about the suicide. We have lost a good national level boxer," he said. Yadav said boxing is a "very emotional sport", and when players don't perform well, "it is common to for the coaches to shout at them". "But I can guarantee that I never abused her," Yadav said.
Amaravati was the only daughter of the family of five, which includes her two brothers and parents. On Wednesday morning, hostel warden Kamala found that Amaravati's room was locked from inside even though other boxers were attending their training routine.She informed the officials at the centre, who broke open the door to find Amaravati lying in her bed.
"Amaravati's friends said she never preferred to mingle with others. She seemed to be sensitive. We are yet to find out how she reached the national level of a sport like boxing despite being so sensitive," said a police official who is part of the investigations.
Other trainees and officials at the hostel are shocked, especially because Amaravati was seen having a good time on Tuesday. "She ordered for chicken biryani. Kamala (the warden) used to share the room with her sometimes. But Amaravati asked the warden to leave her alone," another trainee at the hostel said.
Indian Boxing Federation joint secretary Jay Kowli, who knows coach Yadav, said he couldn't have harassed anybody. "He is well-read and an educated guy, unlike many other coaches. He has never shown any mean streak," Kowli said.
Kowli said sometimes coaches are critical of the performances of their trainees, but that is only to bring out the best in them. "Not that I am defending Omkar, but I really don't know much about the incident. But Omkar has been very steady. He is a former national boxer, a good coach and also a ring official with the IBF."
-- With inputs from Gautam K Sheth in Mumbai
