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- Woman cyclist Accused, Coach Fell, Sports Officer Said Girls Have To Come Forward Without Fear
New Delhi5 hours agoWriters: Deepti Mishra
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A top female cyclist of the country has accused her coach of misbehaving. This allegation has once again created an earthquake in the sports world. Taking action, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) recalled the team that had gone for a competition in Slovenia. A committee has been formed to investigate the termination of the coach’s contract.
This is not the first case when a woman player has leveled such allegations against the coach. Even before this many times, not only the coach-player relationship was shamed, but this is also considered to be a big reason behind the lack of women players.
There is still a difficult path for women
Poonam Bishnoi, sports officer of Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, says that there was a time when girls had the freedom to play only in the courtyard of the house. At that time sports were only for men, then no one even expected that girls could win medals in this field. In 1896, the first Olympics in modern history was held in Athens, the capital of Greece, in which only men took part. In 1900, the Olympic Games were held in Paris, where for the first time female players also appeared in the field. However, only 22 of the total 997 players were women. Society and thinking changed with time. Women’s participation in sports has increased, but the journey is still difficult.
I am lucky, the coach did not break morale
Delhi’s Iron Man cyclist Kirti Virmani says, ‘The case of cyclist that has come to light is condemnable. Sports Authority of India should take strict action so that such incidents can be stopped. I have been cycling since 2015. So far I have ridden in various competitions including Golden Triangle (Delhi to Agra, Jaipur and then Delhi), Manali and Iron Man. I took cycling coaching online from coach Arjun Kandiguppa living in Singapore. Took swimming training from the coach here. I consider myself lucky that I did not face such a situation. My morale was not broken. However, one has to go through many types of problems on the road, so I do not go on a ride alone.
Fear is felt on the road, not from the coach and the teammates
Rani Maheshwari, a Gurugram cyclist and model, says that what happened to a female cyclist should not happen to any woman. Such incidents prevent girls from coming forward in sports. Sai should take the strictest steps on this so that then no girl has to face this kind of situation.
Rani Maheshwari says, ‘I have been cycling since 2016. Till now I have ridden from Delhi to Chandigarh, Golden Triangle and Iron Man competition. In February Dubai won the Iron Man competition, which consists of swimming, cycling and running in 8 hours. I haven’t had any issues with fellow cyclists and coaches so far, but on the road they have. Once someone pushed me from behind, due to which I got hurt a lot, after that I stopped going on solo rides.
The first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal had made allegations
In Sydney in 2000, an Indian woman won an Olympic medal for the first time. The medal was won by Karnam Malleswari. It was a very proud moment for India, but in 2015, the country’s first woman player to win an Olympic medal made serious allegations against coach Ramesh Malhotra. He alleged that in the last decade, Indian women players are being sexually abused by coaches in the name of getting them a place in the team. He raised the matter with the Indian Weightlifting Federation thrice regarding this. Later, taking action, the Sports Authority of India transferred coach Ramesh to Bangalore. However, the coach had denied these allegations.
When the players accused the coach of sexual abuse
In July last year, Tamil Nadu sports coach P Nagarajan was accused of sexual harassment by several female athletes. According to the women players, Nagarajan had been sexually abusing her for the past several years. Even before this, there were many cases of coach playing the role of Guru Dronacharya casting a bad eye on the female player, but many times due to lack of evidence, then the case was withdrawn under pressure and the accused escaped.
- In 2015, a Taekwondo player in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district filed a case against her coach for attempting to sexually assault her. It was alleged that instead of giving him a chance in the game, the coach wanted to have a relationship with him.
- In 2015, at the Sai Training Center in Kerala, four women players tried to commit suicide after being harassed by physical abuse, one of whom died. The women had alleged that they were being sexually harassed there every day. After being out of tolerance, he tried to kill himself by consuming poison.
- In the 2014 Asian Games, a female gymnast had gone to the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium to attend a national camp where she was sexually assaulted. A case was registered against coach Manoj Rana in the matter.
- In 2014, five female players of Hisar Sai Training Center filed a case against the coach for forcibly kissing and sexually assaulting her. Under the pressure of the Gram Panchayat, the players had to withdraw the case. Three years later, Sai reduced the pension to just 10% as a punishment for the coach.
- In 2013, two female players at the Gandhinagar Sai Center in Gujarat had filed a case of sexual assault on the coach, making videos and blackmailing them. The aggrieved players also wrote letters to the Sports Minister and Rahul Gandhi. In the name of action in the matter, only coach transfer took place.
- In 2011, the secretary of the Tamil Nadu Boxing Association was accused of sexual harassment by a female player. According to the woman, the secretary was pressurizing her to be a bedmate instead of being selected in the team.
- In 2010, the players of the women’s hockey team accused the coach of sexual harassment and dirty acts. The Indian Hockey Federation took the players’ side seriously. The coach had to resign.
- In 2009, the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Cricket Association was accused of raping a female player of the team. The police had also registered a case against the secretary.
- In 2009, the incident of suicide of a female boxer at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad had caught a lot of attention. It was alleged that the coach sexually assaulted her.
17 complaints of sexual abuse received in three years
Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur told in the Lok Sabha on December, 2021 that from the year 2018 to now that SAI has received 17 complaints of sexual abuse. Of these, the maximum seven complaints came in the year 2018 and six in 2019. The Indian Express had last year sought information from RTI, according to which 45 cases of sexual abuse of women were reported in the last 10 years in 24 different institutions of the country under SAI. Of these, the maximum 29 cases are between coaches and players. To this, the former Director General of SAI had said that the number of sexual abuse figures could be much higher as women players are unable to file complaints in many cases.
Girls have to give a befitting reply.
Sports officer Poonam Bishnoi says that women players have faced sexual harassment in the past, but now they are coming forward in view of the positive stand of the government. Registering your complaint. However, sometimes there is a price to be paid for showing bravery. Raising your voice is not easy, but it has to be raised. Girls will have to take training in both arms and scriptures. Will have to give a befitting reply.
Increase in the number of women coaches will reduce the problem
Junior wrestler Manvika Gautam says that male coaches teach well. Still, I feel that there should be a women coach so that girls can openly tell all their things. Let us inform that so far Manvika has won gold, silver and bronze medals at the state level. On the other hand, national level kabaddi player Shashi Thakur says that when the number of women coaches at all levels in sports institutions will increase, only then the dependence of female players on male coaches will be reduced somewhat. In addition, there will be a reduction in the incidence of sexual abuse in sports.
Government took these steps
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur told the House that proper arrangements have been made at every training center of SAI to prevent sexual abuse and to register complaints. Internal complaints committees have been formed at different centers of SAI. Women players should not face any problem, so women officers are the chairpersons of the committee. A 24×7 call center has been arranged in SAI, where the players undergoing training can register their complaints at any time.
Cyclist Kirti Virmani. Women players say that the number of women coaches should be increased so that such incidents can be reduced.
What is the matter and what did the cyclist allege?
The country’s top female cyclist has written an e-mail to SAI accusing Indian national team’s cycling coach RK Sharma of misbehaving. According to the e-mail, ‘Coach RK Sharma forcibly entered my room. Massage offered. asked to sleep together. Forcibly pulled me towards him. Said he wanted to make me his wife. That’s why I should treat him like a wife, because he loves me very much. When I protested, the coach threatened to ruin my career by removing me from the National Center of Excellence (NCOE). Said that if he does not listen, he will sell vegetables on the road.