Para-shooters allege corruption in Asian Games selection

The Para-shooters sought an urgent independent inquiry into alleged financial corruption, extortion and rigging in the Para Asian Games selection process, leading the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) to deny the allegations and insist that the team was selected purely on merit.

In a representation to the director general of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Wednesday, the shooters alleged “unlawful extortion”, “blatant corruption” and violation of sports ministry guidelines by officials of the PCI and its Shooting Technical Committee (STC) in the selections for the Aichi-Nagoya Para-Asian Games scheduled for October 18-24.

The national team alleged that athletes were pressured to pay a 20 percent commission on government prize money as a precondition for selection, while accusing officials of manipulating international quotas and qualifying scores to favor certain shooters.

“The athletes are under strong pressure to pay an illegal commission of 20 percent of their approved government prize money to designated committee members as a mandatory condition for national team selection,” the national team said.

WILD CARDS FOR MONEY

The shooters further claimed that the international wild card slots were allocated based on financial considerations rather than ranking and performance and claimed that two of the 15 international quota places available to India were given up because athletes at the next venue refused to meet the alleged financial requirements.

They also accused the selection board of discarding the criteria prescribed by the ministry, manipulating the qualifying scores and replacing the earlier selection board without any reason on record.

According to the shooters, the national team questioned the appointment of an individual as a technical expert and director of operations, even though he has no record of participation in official competitive shooting.

Sandeep Kumar, third-ranked P4 50m SH1 free pistol shooter in Asia, alleged bias in selection process. He claimed that Rudrankksh Khandelwal, ranked 14th in Asia, was picked ahead of Akash, Asia’s number one, and himself.

Sandeep said he was “deeply saddened” by what he described as arbitrary decisions and violations of selection rules.

However, PCI president Devendra Jhajharia denied the allegations and claimed that the selection process was transparent and based solely on the prescribed criteria.

“The selection was done as per the criteria. There was no discrimination against anyone. The selections are 100 per cent fair and as per the guidelines of the sports ministry,” Jhajharia, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist in javelin, told PTI.

He also denied Sandeep’s allegation that he was dropped in favor of a shooter with links to the coach.

“These are all false allegations,” Jhajharia said.

Meanwhile, the shooters have warned that they may seek judicial intervention if the allegations are not resolved and said they would consider approaching the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution seeking an injunction and a court-monitored investigation.

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