Coimbatore : In a rare incident, Shree Haran, a taekwondo gold medal winner in the South Asian games has alleged that officials cheated in the finals of the recently concluded Republic Day (RD)and Baharathiar Day (BD) district level competition held at Sri Ranganathar Polytechnic college, in the outskirts of the city.
Coimbatore : In a rare incident, Shree Haran, a taekwondo gold medal winner in the South Asian games has alleged that officials cheated in the finals of the recently concluded Republic Day (RD)and Baharathiar Day (BD) district level competition held at Sri Ranganathar Polytechnic college, in the outskirts of the city.
The winners of this competition will qualify for the state-level competition which will help the class XII student, Shree Haran to get a sports quota seat for his higher education. The victim allegedly reported that the officials in the match cheated the scores in favour of their respective academy and the result was declared in favour of the opponent. He also complained that the referees deployed were not certified referees and belonged to the club called CODISTA.
Talking to Simplicity, D Manoj Kumar, Taekwondo Coach in Sri Sowdeswari Vidhyalaya School has said, "Being RD and BD competitions, the game should be organised by the Physical Education Department under the control of Anantha Lakshmi, District Inspector of Physical Education (DIP), but this competition was organised by a private academy called CODISTA." He also added, "All the official work in the competition was done by the students of the CODISTA Academy.
As Taekwondo is a new sport, not all the physical education teachers are aware about the rules of the game. The competition should have been organised by the Amateur Taekwondo Association." "There is no proper response from the DIP of the Coimbatore Zone and no measures have been taken till now despite of our complaint'" he further alleged. Manoj Kumar also requested that the petition be considered and arrangements made for a rematch. "We have video evidence for the fraudulence that happened and we are ready to make an appeal to higher officials too," he quoted.
Bala Murugan, Taekwondo Coach in the Kovai Rockers Academy said that there was no transparency in fixtures and alleged that the organisers have altered the fixtures in favour of the particular Academy. "Usually, the organisers are supposed to stick the fixtures of the competition in the notice board. The organizers restricted the coaches of various schools from being in the court but the students of that particular Academy were allowed to sit in the place of coach for a participant," he alleged.
When Anantha Laskhmi, DIP of the Coimbatore Zone was asked to respond to the allegations, she refused to acknowledge the complaints of the participant and said that the games were conducted as per the rules. On being questioned about the protest letter, she stated, "We are only answerable to the physical education teachers and so this letter from the parent of the participant is not valid."
"The officials should consider a rematch with qualified referees. I have completed my second black belt in the sport and trying to get a sports quota seat for my higher education," said Shree Haran. He also added that the Government and the Taekwondo Association should take appropriate action to avoid such incidents in the future.