NEW DELHI: From May 16 - the time she landed in Slovenia with seven of her squad members - till her arrival back to India in the early hours of June 4, the female cyclist, who has accused the sprint team head coach of "inappropriate behaviour", was subjected to alleged harassment by him on multiple occasions, including snide remarks and refusal to impart t raining instructions, during the team's month-long foreign exposure trip.
Detailing the sequence of events, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) - whose Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) is looking into the cyclist's complaint - informed TOI that after the unfortunate incident on May 16 - when the coach allegedly asked the cyclist to share a hotel room with as there was no single room booking in her name - the SAI's senior development officer (SDO) for cycling, and the Athlete Relationship Manager (ARM), were "constantly in touch with the athlete in Slovenia" to ensure that she wasn't being subjected to any kind of pressure by the coach.
"On May 16, the athlete reached Slovenia and was informed that the contingent was getting rooms on double-sharing basis and that she had to share a room with the coach. The SAI SDO for cycling was informed about this at 9 pm and he immediately spoke to CFI chairman (Onkar Singh) and flagged off the issue. SAI SDO spoke to the athlete who was disturbed at being asked to share the room and assured her that she would have a single room immediately. SAI SDO & CFI chairman then spoke to the hotel and organised a separate room for her," the SAI informed.
"On May 22, the athlete informed the SAI SDO that she was being subjected to snide remarks by the coach and that he was not even willing to speak to her to impart training instructions. She said that she felt disturbed by this attitude of the coach," the sports body added.
The SAI further detailed that, on June 1 at 8:30 pm, its Target Olympic Podium Scheme's (TOPS) CEO, Commodore P K Garg, came to know that some "untoward incident" had happened between the cyclist and the coach, following which the athlete was convinced to return to India "for her own safety. "She was sent the tickets on June 1 night itself. She landed in Delhi on the 4th early morning," the SAI stated. Garg and SDO cycling met the athlete in the presence of the psychologist and, the next day, she submitted her official written complaint through email on June 5.
Earlier, speaking to TOI, CFI's secretary general Maninder Pal Singh had said: "Apart from the May 16 hotel room issue, there was a separate incident which happened 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 her door. When she opened it, he allegedly entered her room without obtaining her consent and sat there on her bed. It was shameful on his part."
