New Delhi: In a shocking revelation, a report prepared by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) claimed that unfit athletes were sent to the Rio Olympics 2016.
According to reports emerged on Friday, SAI conducted a review of India's performance at the Rio Olympics last month.
Despite sending it's largest ever contingent, of 118 athletes, India returned with only two medals from Rio — a silver won by PV Sindhu in women's singles event and a bronze won by wrestler Sakshi Malik in women's freestyle 58 kg category.
Various reports quoted sources from SAI, which claimed that "some athletes showed physical fitness issues, which is a matter of concern and reflects on inadequate monitoring".
A vivid example was that medal hope Saina Nehwal's painful exit from the women's badminton event. The ace shuttler's struggle with fitness was all too visible, and after the Games, she went through a knee surgery.
The report also mentioned how India was denied medals by near misses. Abhinav Bindra in shooting and Dipa Karmakar in gymnastics finished close fourths. It also highlighted the tough draw Indian boxers faced in Rio.
But there was damning comments on the report, which is believed to be prepared by SAI Director General Injeti Srinivas.
"The lacklustre performance of the Indian contingent certainly requires deep introspection and remedial measures. While we do need to make some changes, but they necessarily require to be very radical changes," he stated in the report.
Further, in the report, Srinivas reportedly recommended a strategy of identifying the best medal prospect sports and investing the most on them.
"A set of sports disciplines may be identified where we have very little presence and the objective is of participation in Olympics. These could include disciplines like swimming, triathlon, fencing, judo, taekwando etc.," it said.
It also recommended a greater scrutiny of the coaching staff attached with the athletes across all sports.
"Performance of coaches, especially foreign coaches, needs to be evaluated very minutely. Hiring of foreign coaches should be done very carefully and based on strong and proven track record," the report said.
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