IWF backtrack on original team

By Rohit Bhardwaj

New Delhi

July 10: Controversies have become synonymous with the Indian Weightlifting Federation with the latest being selection for the Beijing Olympic Games.

Accused of taking Rs 5 lakh as bribe to pick lifter Shailaja Pujari ahead of rival Monika Devi and under the sports ministry scanner, IWF secretary Baldev Raj Gulati has backtracked on the team for Beijing.

"We will have a final selection between the probables in Bangalore before July 17, the last date for sending entries for the 2008 Olympics," B.R. Gulati said.

However, Gulati dismissed the bribery charge.

Asked about the ministry’s directive to pick Monika Devi for the Games, Gulati said:

"It will only be decided at the final trial in Bangalore on July 17."

The ministry for its part had ordered that fresh selection trials set for July 15 be scrapped as it would be nothing more than an "unnecessary exercise".

In reply, Gulati said, "to thrust your opinion on the selection committee of an autonomous federation will be fought out as infringement".

Devi had clinched the lone Olympic berth for India in either the men’s or women’s category by picking up a silver and a bronze in the Asian weightlifting championship in Japan in April.

Pujari thereafter outclassed Devi at the trials on June 29, after having served a two-year doping ban that ended in February this year.

Asked about the federation’s plans for uprooting the doping menace has been highlighted time and again, Gulati said: "Doping has always been in power games in some form or the other. It’s only after WADA came into being in 1999 that it has come to light often.

"We have decided to increase the facilities, incentives and monetary rewards for lifters who play clean.

"Any lifter involved in doping will not only be banned but will never be picked for any championship and also not get the benefits enjoyed by others." How much of this will be implemented however, remains to be seen given the IWF’s murky track record.

Egyptian coach Magad Salama resigned four months ago from his post after accusing the players of frequent doping and the federation of corruption. The federation itself has just emerged from a two-year ban after a series of drug-related scandals between 2002 and 2006.

Gulati was however adamant on not imposing a life ban on Satisha Rai, who had tested positive twice — first at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002 and then at the Guwahati National Games in February 2007 — saying, "Satisha has already quit the game six months ago and what purpose would it serve on a sportsperson who has retired?"