Judoka cries foul after denied national team berth
PATIALA: National judo champion Navdeep Kaur, who had bagged the gold medal in the 48kg category of the 18th National Games for Deaf held at Aurangabad in April, has alleged bias and lobbying by Indian Blind and Para Judo Association (IBPJA) after she was denied a place in the national squad for the Deaflympics to be held at Bulgaria from July 26 to August 4.
Navdeep's dream to represent her country at the international level suffered a blow when despite having her name in the final list issued by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), she was dropped from the squad after the trials held at IG Stadium Delhi from June 26 to 27.
Pertinently, the letter issued by SAI for the selection trials had names of only two players — Navdeep from Punjab and Jyoti from Uttar Pradesh.
However, one more player from Uttar Pradesh, Divya, a bronze medallist whose name was not mentioned in the list, was present and appeared for the trials.
When the general secretary of IBPJA Munawar Anzar was contacted on the matter, he took refuge in the contention that Navdeep failed to perform in the trials, as she had not practised hard.
"Though the list comprised of only two names, there were many more players who were fit for the trials. When the dates for trials were announced, I had informed the deaf organisation in Uttar Pradesh that if they had good players they should send them to Delhi for trials.
“And on the selection day, Divya performed better. Navdeep had not practised enough, whereas Divya had been practising throughout," Anzar said.
Navdeep’s guardian Kamaljit Singh is now planning a legal recourse on the issue.
" On Monday, we will approach the Delhi high court for a stay order. When the list had only two names then how on the last moment another girl from UP was called for the trials. It is sheer favouritism and lobbying that Navdeep had to suffer," Kamaljit said.