Official’s error costs India likely medal | More sports News
BENGALURU: A shocking error by a team official accompanying the Indian squad has allegedly denied a promising Indian athlete a likely podium finish at the FISU World University Games now on in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. Seema, one of India’s rising long-distance runners, had trained hard and was all set to start Monday’s women’s 10,000m final when she realised to her horror that her name was missing from the start list. She alerted the Indian team officials, who were also shocked at the turn of events. “It appears that while reconfirming the participation of the athletes to the organisers, through the electronic data sheet, the athletics official at the venue clicked the wrong box. There were two boxes — participating and not participating — and the official could have ticked the wrong box,” sources told TOI. As per the entry list, the 24-year-old had clocked a personal and season best time of 32:14.66s. “It’s a matter of shame that our athletes’ names are not there. Athletes from Pakistan and Sri Lanka are in the start list. Three of us were to compete in the 10,000m — Anjali Devi, Nirmala and me — but our names were missing from the start list,” Seema told TOI.
