Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: The humiliation of legendary athlete PT Usha over accommodation for her during the 49th National Open Athletics Championships in Bhopal had big sounding repercussions and a blame game has started on who is responsible for it. Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief Suresh Kalmadi too came out to address the controversy and said that it was an incident that should have never happened.
He spoke to a news channel about the unfortunate incident and said, “PT Usha is one of the greatest athletes India has ever produced. And looking after her is our prime responsibility and I would like to say that in no uncertain terms. Whatever happened in Bhopal is very unfortunate.”
“She had come with a team and she wanted to stay with the team. She went to the Sports Authority of India hostel which she did not like and the organisation went and apologised to her and put her in a hotel. I told them that these things should not have happened and I'm sure in future will not be repeated by anybody.”
Kalmadi also stressed that the authorities always tried their best to give the athletes their due and added, “These things do not happen generally but we will issue stern warnings that these things should not happen at all, and we will definitely insure that these things are looked after very well. No doubts about that.”
The issue of cricketers receiving the best of treatment in this country was also raised and
Suresh Kalmadi agreed to the reality and said that it was the reason why Commonwealth gave his this chance of promoting of Olympic sports.
First Published: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 11:15