PCI’S U-turn: All fine at Asian Para

ON SEPT 30, THE INDIAN CONTINGENT WAS REPORTEDLY REFUSED ENTRY TO THE GAMES VILLAGE FOR A FEW HOURS AS SOME PAYMENTS HAD NOT BEEN DONE ON TIME.

NEWDELHI: The chef de mission of the Indian contingent to the Asian Para Games, Gursharan Singh, has done a volte face, issuing a statement that all 300 members who took part in the event, held from October 6-13 in Jakarta, faced no problems during their stay and “got full cooperation and support from the Games Organising Committee”.

On September 30, the Indian contingent was reportedly refused entry to the Games Village for a few hours as some payments had not been done on time.

Gursharan, who is also the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) vice-president, was quoted as saying on September 30 that, “Each country will have to pay for accommodation of its athletes at the Games Village, pay competition and registration fee etc. So, we have to pay around $2.5 lakh for the contingent of around 300. We came here without funds and had problems in going into the Games Village.

“We had to give an undertaking that we will pay the amount by October 4. If we do not make the payment, we may be told to vacate our accommodation at the Games Village,” Gursharan had said. Perhaps to avoid being questioned on the issue, Gursharan decided to give the felicitation ceremony held here on Tuesday a miss. Another top PCI official had confirmed that para-athletes had initially been denied entry when they arrived at the Village “as the Sports Ministry had not till then cleared funds of $2.5 lakh”.

Gursharan later issued a statement saying, “I regret as the same (media reports) is not based on facts but in order to gain attention of the Indian public. As chef de mission of the Indian contingent, I certify and declare that we got all the cooperation from the Organising Committee.”