Muristek
Karam Prakash
Patiala, June 11
Cycling coach RK Sharma, whose contract was terminated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) after a female cyclist accused him of "inappropriate behaviour" during a training-cum-competition tour of Slovenia, had not done the one-year Diploma Coaching Course from the National Institute of Sports (NIS) here.
However, Sharma is said to have completed a three-month Level-3 coaching course from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the global governing body of sports cycling.
The Cycling Federation of India (CFI) has claimed that it treats the Level-3 course from UCI as equivalent to the NIS Diploma in sports coaching. When questioned about the qualification of Sharma to be appointed the chief coach, Maninder Pal Singh, CFI's secretary general, said, "The chief coach has done Level-3 course from UCI, which is the highest coaching course in cycling."
Officials and coaches at NIS say that the norm should be for only NIS-qualified coaches to be appointed to important positions such as national coach or in-charge of camps.
"Coaches who have qualified from NIS should be appointed in the national camps," a cycling coach with the SAI, not wishing to be named, said.
Sharma, formerly with the Indian Air Force, had completed close to 30 years in service before he decided to change his career path. On the recommendation of the CFI, he was appointed the national team coach. He was not an employee of the SAI, a major stakeholder of Indian sports.
Terrible past
This episode is the latest in a long list of cases in which male coaches have harassed female athletes. Among the most shocking case in recent years was the death by suicide of a 15-year-old athlete, Aparna, at SAI's Water Sports Centre in Alapuzha, Kerala, in 2015. Aparna was among four girls who consumed a poisonous substance after physical and mental abuse.
Last year, a 19-year-old athlete filed a sexual harassment complaint against coach P Nagarajan, based in Chennai, following which seven more women made similar allegations against the 59-year-old coach. In 2009, a 21-year-old boxer, S Amaravathi, died by suicide in her room at SAI's Andhra Pradesh Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad, and her family accused her coach of humiliating her and driving her toward the extreme step.
"It's very important to develop and implement a code of conduct under which male coaches must interact with female athletes," said a cycling coach with the SAI.
On Friday, the National Human Rights Commission India took suo motu cognisance of the complaint by the young cyclist, and there is hope that finally the SAI would come up with rigorous rules and protocols to ensure the welfare of female athletes.
Cyclist files FIR
The female cyclist, who had alleged sexual harassment by sacked national coach R K Sharma today filed an FIR against him even as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) said it will speak with the cycling contingent that travelled to Sloveina as part of its detailed investigation. "The national-level cyclist has lodged an FIR on Saturday against the national cycling coach for his inappropriate behaviour during a foreign exposure trip in Slovenia," the SAI said in a statement. pti