NEW DELHI: The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) members under the Sports Authority of India (SAI) were recently left surprised when they received a proposal from the country's leading wrestlers, Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Deepak Punia, who requested for the appointment of a Jammu-based motivational speaker as their mental trainer for the Paris Olympics 2024.
The proposal to appoint Vickrant Mahajan on a monthly remuneration of Rs 50,000 per athlete till Olympics 2024 was promptly turned down by the MOC after it was found out that he didn't possess any qualification as a sports psychologist or mental trainer.
The government-appointed oversight committee, which was formed to run the day-to-day affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India(WFI) in the wake of the sexual harassment charges against its chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, had expressed its deep reservation over the appointment of Mahajan as Dahiya and Punia's mental trainer. The proposal was routed through TOPS, which the two wrestlers are part of.
"Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Deepak Punia sent their request for providing monthly remuneration of Rs 50,000/per athlete till Olympics 2024 for mental trainer Vickrant Mahajan. Views of the oversight committee were taken for the same and, in response, the committee proposed that the services of qualified personnel should be utilised for TOPS athletes but recommended that MOC members should take the final call. The proposal was thus taken up in the MOC meeting where MOC members did not approve Mahajan as their mental trainer as he doesn't have any qualification as a sports psychologist/mental trainer," the SAI informed.
