Sushil’s School Games body under the scanner

NEW DELHI: SOURCES SAY THE OVERALL EXPENDITURE FOR THE SEVENDAY EVENT WAS FAR LESS COMPARED TO THE FEE CHARGED.

Double Olympic Games medallist Sushil Kumar, the president of the School Games Federation of India, and his father-in-law Satpal Singh, an Asian Games gold-medallist in wrestling, the chief patron of SGFI, are in the news for the wrong reasons -- lapses in the treatment of Indian students participating in the Pacific School Games in Adelaide.

Earlier this week, a video of a distraught girls hockey team from India participating in the event surfaced; the girls alleged that they had missed two matches because no transport had been arranged for them and they had no money to hire transport to the venue .

Neither Kumar nor Singh could be reached for comment despite repeated attempts to do so. Despite the country’s Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore ordering an inquiry, SGFI working president Narendra Sopal denied any wrongdoing on the part of his organisation. “The athletes are being looked after well and there were no issues of lack of funds for food and transport,” he said.

SGFI has ordered an internal inquiry but an official of the SGFI secretariat, Kanhiya Gurjar, refused details.

The SGFI had charged ~2.5 lakh per student from the state governments vide its order dated August 17, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times. The sports ministry was also informed about this. With a lot of states, including Maharashtra, refusing to pay up, a majority of the competitors were from Delhi.

Since it was an invitational event, the SGFI had asked its state-affiliated units, in this case state education departments, to fund students from their states. Sources say the overall expenditure for the seven-day event, jointly organised by School Sports Australia and Australian government, was far less than the fee charged.

Gurjar, however, refused to share the breakup. “I have no idea about the financial aspect of the tour…it’s an exposure tour and worth the money,” he said.

The SGFI fielded teams in six disciplines, including football, hockey and softball for Under-16 boys and girls. Among the eight participating teams in hockey, India were the only foreign team.

In the under-16 girls’ softball event, besides India, the Philippines were the only other competing nation. In the boys’ group, India and Australian school teams battled for supremacy.

A total of 90 students and an unknown number of officials were in the Indian contingent. Dharmender Singh, an official in the sports wing of the Delhi Education department, said he was clueless why so many students were cleared for a regional-level tournament.

“My job is to only give administrative clearance, which I did,” he said, adding, that the deputy director, Education department, Asha Aggarwal, would have more details. Aggarwal did not respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment.

In an unrelated development Kumar resigned as National Sports Observer for wrestling earlier this week.

SGFI is an independent body that is recognised by the sports ministry.