NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of women’s Gymnastics World Cup bronze medallist Aruna Budda Reddy alleging she was videographed during her clinical assessment by a National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) coach without her permission, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Monday informed that it has received a complaint of “inappropriate behaviour” from a leading female cyclist against a national coach during the track sprint team’s foreign exposure trip to Slovenia.
The trip was part of the Cycling Federation of India’s (CFI) efforts to prepare the team for the upcoming Asian Track Championships, scheduled to be held from June 18 to 22 at the indoor cycling velodrome of the IG stadium here. The month-long preparatory camp, which began on May 15, will last till June 14. An eight member team has travelled to Slovenia and the complainant is the only female cyclist in the group.
The complainant, multiple gold medal winners in different editions of the Track Asia Cup cycling competitions, was asked to cut short her trip. She returned to India on June 3 on SAI’s insistence after she sent an email — narrating the coach’s atrocious behavior — to Target Olympic Podium Scheme’s (TOPS) CEO, Commodore P K Garg, on June 1 from Slovenia. The coach in question is presently associated with the track sprint cyclists, who have been selected to be part of the TOPS riders for Paris Olympics 2024 and Los Angeles 2028.
“SAI has received a complaint from a cyclist of inappropriate behaviour by a coach during a foreign exposure camp in Slovenia. The coach was appointed on the recommendation of the CFI. Following the complaint by the athlete, SAI has immediately brought her back to India to ensure her safety and has also constituted a committee to investigate the matter. The matter is being dealt with on priority and will be resolved shortly,” SAI said in a statement.
The incident couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time for SAI when its entire top brass is busy ensuring smooth conduct of the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) in multiple cities of Haryana.
Later in the evening, the CFI also came up with a separate statement, where it informed about the formation of its own internal committee to look into the matter. “The federation also formed a committee with Maninder Pal Singh, CFI secretary general, SS Sudeesh Kumar, president Kerala Cycling, Dipali Nikam, chief coach Maharashtra cycling team and V N Singh, assistant secretary, CFI who met today (Monday) with the complainant and assured her full support.
Maninder told TOI that the two separate incidents of misconduct occurred in Slovenia. The coach has been asked to explain himself before the committee. He informed that the cyclist’s mail has been forwarded to the coach and he has been directed to respond to it immediately.
“On April 15, when the team reached the hotel lobby in Slovenia, a single room was not available for the complainant. Only rooms with double occupancy were booked, which, of course, shouldn’t have happened in the first place. The accused coach allegedly told the complainant she could share the room with him and stay with him, which was inappropriate on his part. In the meantime, a few calls were made and a separate room for her was arranged by the SAI officials.
“Then, on May 29, two team members – Esow Alben and Ronaldo, along with the accused coach – returned from a competition in Germany. The coach went to the complainant’s hotel room and knocked on the door. When she opened it, he allegedly entered her room without obtaining her consent and sat there. It is an unfortunate and shameful incident and we at the CFI, don’t compromise on women's safety,” Maninder told TOI.
“But, we have only one thing to tell the complainant. She should have ideally informed the federation about these incidents before directly writing to the SAI’s TOPS division. We would have taken appropriate action against the coach,” he added.
