New Delhi, Oct 7 (PTI) Para-shooters have sought an urgent independent inquiry into alleged financial corruption, extortion and manipulation in the selection process for the Para Asian Games, prompting the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) to reject the charges and insist that the team was picked entirely on merit.
In a representation to the Director General of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Wednesday, the shooters alleged “illicit monetary extortion”, “brazen corruption” and violations of Sports Ministry’s guidelines by PCI officials and its Shooting Technical Committee (STC) in selections for the Aichi-Nagoya Para Asian Games, scheduled from October 18 to 24.
The representation alleged that athletes were being pressured to pay a 20 per cent commission from government cash awards as a precondition for selection, while also accusing officials of manipulating international quota places and qualifying scores to favour certain shooters.
“Athletes are being coerced under severe duress into paying an illegal kickback of 20 per cent of their sanctioned government cash awards to designated committee office-bearers as a mandatory pre-condition for national team selection,” the representation alleged.
The shooters further claimed that international wild-card slots were allocated on the basis of financial considerations rather than ranking and performance, and alleged that two of the 15 international quota places available to India were surrendered because the next-ranked athletes refused to meet the alleged financial demands.
They also accused the selection committee of discarding prescribed Ministry criteria, manipulating qualifying scores and replacing an earlier selection panel without recorded justification.
According to the shooters, the representation questioned the appointment of an individual as a technical expert and Director of Operations despite having no record of participation in an official competitive shooting event.
Sandeep Kumar, a P4 50m free pistol SH1 shooter ranked third in Asia, alleged bias in the selection process. He claimed Rudrankksh Khandelwal, ranked 14th in Asia, was selected ahead of Akash, the Asian No. 1, and himself.
Sandeep said he was “deeply aggrieved” by what he described as arbitrary decisions and violations of the selection rules.
PCI president Devendra Jhajharia, however, rejected the allegations, maintaining that the selection process was transparent and based entirely on the prescribed criteria.
“The selection has been done as per the criteria. There has been no discrimination against anyone. The selections are 100 per cent fair and according to the Sports Ministry’s guidelines,” Jhajharia, a two-time Paralympics javelin gold-medallist, told PTI.
He also denied Sandeep’s allegation that he had been dropped in favour of a shooter with links to the coach.
“Those are all false allegations,” Jhajharia said.
The shooters, meanwhile, have warned that they could seek judicial intervention if the allegations are not addressed, saying they would consider approaching the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution for a writ of mandamus and a court-monitored investigation. PTI AM AM UNG
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