‘Clerical error’ leaves Delhi runner out of Asian Para Games
NEW DELHI: This isn’t the kind of running Munna Kumar Rajak of Delhi thought he would have to do as part of preparations for the Asian Para Games in Indonesia. The visually impaired runner has been trying to get his entry confirmed for the competition that begins on October 6 but has so far only run into dead ends.
The deadline expired on July 31.
Despite achieving qualifying norm, he is ranked sixth in 400 T12 category --- among the 20 classes, T11-13 are for the visually impaired --- the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) has ignored Rajak.
According to his coach Satyapal Singh, despite reminders, PCI, the national federation for para-athletics, hasn’t responded. “It’s not the fault of the athlete. He has achieved the qualification norm set by the federation,” said Singh. “Since we haven’t received any communication from the federation, we don’t know why he was denied entry.”
Rajak’s name was missing from the national preparatory camp that began earlier this month in Bengaluru. The PCI has shortlisted over 50 athletes for the track-and-field competition.
Last year, Rajak, an 18 yearold-student of Delhi’s blind school, won three medals, including the 400m in under-18 category, in the Asian Para Youth Games held in Dubai. His performance of 57.93 seconds in the 400m was good enough to make cut for the Asian Para Games.
In the selection trials last July, Rajak finished sixth in his group clocking 56.06 seconds in the one-lap race.
Giriraj Singh, an official of the PCI responsible for track and field events, didn’t respond to calls but the federation’s chief executive officer Sharukh Shamshad said there was an error in sending the entries.”it was clerical mistake we are trying to sort it out,” he said.