What went wrong with Indian contingent players and officials at the end of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as star para-athletes and officials have formally protested against some of the officials was reported to be in trouble. According to the Times of India report, Gold and silver medallists Dilip Mahadu Gavit and Mohammad Basil Morssinganakathi of Commonwealth Games and Dharam Singh Yadav of Indian Olympic Association media committee member Dilip Mahadu Gavit have come forward to complain about media and media committee member after gold medal winning in Glasgow. The report says, the allegations made in the letter to the media are that the concerned individual has been disrespectful and aggressive towards the Indian team after a historic medal winning performance.
The complaints were formally filed by Gavit, Basil and para-athletics coach Pushpa NP, all of whom were important members of the Indian contingent in Glasgow, reported the source. Rahul Swami, the Paralympic Committee of India CEO, has also taken action by filing a similar formal complaint with both the Sports Ministry and Indian Olympic Association. The reports indicate that Sarvesh Kedia, an IOA media committee member, who traveled to the international event as one of India's official press attaches and was assigned directly to the chef de mission's office.
According to the report, the flashpoint began after Kedia had a heated conversation with the chief para-athletics coach Satyanarayana. The issue was about logistics and about athletes’ media contacts, before the competitors started to head to dope control.
The situation escalated into a verbal clash between Kedia and Satyanarayana and the coach and athletes intervened quickly to defuse the situation. Kedia was one of 14 IOA officials who came to the Games with India's whole able-bodied and para-athletes.
In her grievance, Pushpa claimed that Kedia spoke loud and aggressively with medal winners Dilip Gavit, Basil and coaches. This is the case because Kedia and Satyanarayana fought against one another. Pushpa made a formal request to the authorities to ensure that Kedia is banned from ever speaking in any para-athletics media in the future and she wanted him to be disciplined in case of this.
The incident occurred on a historic Thursday, just hours after Gavit set a Games record of 10.71 seconds to make for the first Indian male para-athlete to win a Commonwealth Games athletics gold medal. Basil was close behind with a season-best time of 10.83 seconds to win the silver medal and complete a great 1-2 in the T47 100m final for India. But the unsavory post-match altercation deeply hurt many para-athletics players and coaches in India, and the athletes and coaches in India were forced to seek the help of Sports Ministry and IOA.
