New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS) Irked with a swimming coach and an official of a sporting body, the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) has written to Sports Minister M.S. Gill to sack them ahead of the Swimming World Championship Aug 15-21.
The letter written Friday alleges that the disabled athletes are facing continuing discrimination at the hands of corrupt sporting bodies like the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), and the indifference of the sports ministry.
‘It is the first time that four Indian paralympic swimmers have qualified for the World Championships. A good performance will impact the probability of our swimmers for the London Paralympics 2012,’ NCPEDP director Javed Abidi said.
‘The team is supposed to leave Aug 12 but the swimmers have still not been informed if they are going or not. Neither have their funds been sanctioned nor their visas arranged,’ he added.
‘Moreover, they are currently undergoing coaching on their own and at their own expense,’ Abidi said.
The PCI has said that if the swimmers want to participate in the World Championships, they will have to fund the tour themselves, he said.
The NCPEDP demanded that V.K. Dabas, coach of the Indian para swimming team from the Paralympic Swimming Federation of India, and C.V. Raghunath, administrator of the PCI, be sacked.
‘The four players are not and don’t even want to train with Dabas. Then why his name is being proposed by the PCI as coach for the world championship? As for Raghunath, he is neither disabled nor does he have anything to do with swimming,’ Abidi argued.
He added that it is high time the sports ministry puts a stop to foreign tours of corrupt PCI officials at the expense of the public exchequer.
