Jaisha attacks officials for ditching her

NEW DELHI: Distance runner OP Jaisha wilted in the heat during the Rio Olympics marathon and the unconscious athlete was put

Published by Sharad Saxena for and on behalf of H.T. Media Ltd, SCO – 6, 2nd Floor, Sector 17-E, Chandigarh - UT and printed at Presses of HT Media Ltd., C – 164 -165, Phase VIII - B, Industrial Focal Point, Mohali, SAS Nagar, Punjab. and B – 21, Industrial Focal Point, Jalandhar, Punjab. Editorial -0172--5050640 Circulation - 0172-5050656 Advertising - 0172-5050607 Editor : Ramesh Vinayak R.N.I. No. CHAENG/2011/45688 on a drip for a couple of hours.

Back home, Jaisha, 33, lashed out at the athletics federation officials for not manning the special water points meant to provide her supplement drinks. Jaisha’s poor relationaship with Belarusian coach Nikolai Snesarev also came to the fore. Jaisha was left too drained as she finished 89th, clocking 2hour 47min 19sec, far below her personal best (2:34.43).

“The competition was at 9am, I ran in scorching heat. There was no water for us, neither recovery drinks nor food. Only once in 8km did we get water (from the organisers) which did not help at all. All the countries had their stalls every 2km but our country’s stall was empty,” she told PTI. “We’re supposed to be given drinks by our technical officials, it’s the rule. I saw the India board there but there was nothing. I fainted after the race. I was administered glucose.” However, Athletics Federation of India secretary CK Valson told HT it was the coach’s decision to not have additional water points. “We collected accreditation passes and made arrangements, but Nikolai refused. How could we go ahead?” he asked. Kavita Raut, the second marathon runner, had no complaints.