'Tougher to satisfy Indian athletes': IOA acting president takes indirect DIG at Lovlina Borgohain ahead of CWG 2022

Source: Twitter

A few days after Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain spoke out against harrasment as her personal coach Sandhya Gurung being denied entry into the Indian contingent in Birmingham, India Olympic Association's (IOA) acting president Anil Khanna has spoken up on the issue, saying that Indian athletes are hard to satisfy. The statement comes a day before the action begind at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. 

"Today with great sorrow I want to reveal that harassment is going on with me. The coaches who helped me win the Olympic medal were removed which hindered my training process. One of the coaches is Sandhya Gurungji, who is a Dronacharya awardee. Both of my coaches have to plead to be included in the training camp and they are added quite late," Lovlina had said in her tweet. IOA then acted quickly and permitted Olympic medallist's coach to be a part of the Indian contingent. But for that to happen, the designated team doctor of the boxing contingent Karanjeet Singh had to be shifted outside the Games Village for Gurung to enter.

pic.twitter.com/2NJ79xmPxH— Lovlina Borgohain (@LovlinaBorgohai) July 25, 2022

In an interview with PTI, Khanna has now said that Indian athletes lack a sense of cooperation between each other. 

"It is tougher to satisfy Indian athletes' needs a little more than others as they react a bit too early. A sense of cooperation between the athletes is not always there," said Khanna, who is also in Birmingham.

"Lovlina is an Olympic medallist, we had to accommodate her request. The boxing team doctor is also experienced. He is staying outside the village like many of our officials and coach.

"The transport is being arranged, there is no issue at all," Khanna stressed.

Shooting's absence is likely to make a big dent on India's medals tally at the Games. India won 66 medals four years ago in Gold Coast, including 16 in shooting, for a third place finish.

"Our estimate is around 60-65 medals. We will have to see how many we get. The impact of shooting not being there will be felt for sure," he said.

He also confirmed that 164 (89+55+20) Indian athletes and officials from three different villages will be part of the opening ceremony on Thursday evening.

On shooting and wrestling not being part of the 2026 Games programme, he added, "For 2026, shooting and wrestling are not included as of now, but we have had discussions with CGF president Dame Louise Martin.

"The respective international federations of shooting and wrestling have time till August 19 to submit expression of interest to CGF. "By September 30 they will need to make a presentation," he said.