Power failure or officail disinterst hits athletes at Indian GP

It seems the condition of athletes in India is deteriorating day by day. Less than four months left for the Rio Games and Indian associations is not ready for anything. How can a country of 125 billion expect yellow metal from the world’s largest platform when we cannot fix a simple sabotage for our sportspersons?

In a major lapse, three national records and one Olympic qualification timing failed to register at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday, when it faced a power failure. Indian runner Srabani Nanda (Women’s 100m), Muhammad Anas (400m) and Amiya Kumar Mallick (Men’s 100m) were on the receiving end.

The power began to fluctuate in the wee hours of Sunday and despite the warning, organisers went ahead with the Indian Grand Prix, only to experience a longer gap later in the day.

Despite having a power back-up, organisers decided against using it. However, the power never returned with the Men’s and Women’s 3000m event conducted in complete darkness.

The officials recorded the time manually, which is not allowed according to IAAF rules. Mallick registered a timing of 10.09 in the Men’s 100m, convincingly breaking the previous record of 10.30 seconds. This particular timing would see him make Olympic cut of 10.16 seconds.

Nanda put in a time of 11.23 seconds, breaking the national record of 11.38 seconds in the Women’s 100m. Anas, also broke the 400m national record of 45.48 by registering a time of 45.41 seconds, a mere 0.1 seconds behind Olympic qualification. 

With such types of technical glitch, who can we expect our athletes to do well in Rio Games.