Times
of India: Bengaluru: Tuesday, 02 December 2014.
Former
national sprinter and coach Sunil Abraham, a leading light in Indian athletics
for 25 years from 1976-2000, hit out against the state and central government
officials for denying him the Dronacharya award and said he is planning to move
the court and Lok Ayukta to expose the misdeeds of the officials.
"It is
not about going after the fame and money of the award. It is about be ing
humiliated and rejected," Abraham said after providing details of the
document trail he obtained through RTI on how he missed out on the award from
2011 to 2014.
"In 2011
my name was dropped at the Union ministry level following political compulsions
to give the award to another coach. The officials apologized and said they will
consider my case next year. In 2013, my application was held back by a section
officer in the state government and the same officer removed my name from the
life-time achievements category and put it as the fourth name in the general
list," said Abraham, who represented India at the 1982 Asian Games.
The noted
coach, who founded the SURE Athletic Movement in the 80s to train athletes who
went on to win laurels for the country, also alleged that an under-secretary in
the Union sports ministry ensured that his name never went before the selection
panel this year.
"My
application was not considered for the 'zone of contention'. I got an
unconvincing RTI reply that only first three nominations would be considered
despite the state principal secretary sending a corrigendum that my application
is for lifetime contribution where there were only two other nominations from
the state," he said.
To Abraham's
query about whether his name was on the final list in 2011 and was subsequently
withdrawn, the union ministry replied: 'Yes.' As per the letter sent by DYES on
April 23, 2014 N Lingappa and PS Viswanath were nominated in the lifetime
contribution category while Abraham's name was listed fourth with Shyamala
Shetty in third place and Ramesh Tikaram fifth. Abraham also said the state
government ignored his application for this year's lifetime achievement
award.Former athletes S Vanaja, Poonam Belliappa and Sai Swarna also spoke
against the injustice meted out to their coach.
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