PUNE: The Sports Authority of India's (SAI) role in approving athletes' Asian Games participation has come under fresh scrutiny, with the men's gymnastics team claiming they have been overlooked despite fulfilling the eligibility criteria set out by the government.
"The names of the men have been taken off the list forwarded to the sports ministry by the federation (GFI)," said seasoned gymnast Rakesh Patra. "We have the best-eight performance as mentioned in the criteria set by the government. Gymnastics is a measurable sport. Points are scored for each performance, unlike wrestling or badminton. On the other hand, the football team, a non-measurable sport, has been cleared. The boys are feeling downcast," he added.
While the final decision on clearing athletes' travel to Hangzhou rests with the ministry, it usually abides by SAI's recommendation.
GFI president Sudhir Mital lamented that SAI officials had used a set of criteria which was "not consistent" with the ministry's own guidelines. "The SAI officials informed that only 2 gymnasts are eligible as per the selection criteria. We … realized that SAI officials had used an entirely new criteria … which was not consistent with the criteria published by the MYAS," he had written in a letter to SAI Director General Sandip Pradhan late last month.
"We are unable to understand the compulsion as to why SAI, at this stage, is adopting an altogether different selection criteria."
A detailed questionnaire sent to SAI's deputy director Prashant Singh did not elicit a response till the time of going to press.
