Para-Asian Games shooting selection row: Sports minister meets protesting athletes

Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will meet para-shooters protesting against alleged corruption and manipulation in the selection process for the upcoming Para-Asian Games here on Friday to address their concerns.

The shooters, who staged a demonstration at the Sports Authority of India headquarters, continued protest at the elimination ceremony of para-athletes tied to the games here on Thursday. The Games will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from October 18 to 24.

“There seem to be a lot of institutional problems with the way para-shooting is being run right now. It’s not just about the Asian Games. The minister will meet with them to try to resolve the issues they have raised, including corruption,” said a well-placed ministry source.

The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) denied the allegations and insisted 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 “illegal extortion, brazen corruption” and violation of sports ministry guidelines by PCI officials and its Shooting Technical Committee (STC) in selections for the Aichi-Nagoya Games.

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.

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.

“There is little that can be done now to make any changes to the contingent. But these are very serious allegations and cannot be simply dismissed without a thorough understanding of what is going on,” the source said.

CYCLISTS PROTEST AT SAI

Six paracyclists who were left out of the contingent for not meeting the selection criteria, staged a protest at the SAI headquarters this afternoon. However, this is unlikely to cause any major uproar as the final applications have already been submitted.

Paralympian Arshad Shaik is the only cyclist to have received approval from the Games Ministry. Arshad secured fourth place among nine athletes during the Asian Para Road Championships this year and was fifth in the eight-man Asian Para Track Championships in the 1km time trial.

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