Indian para-athlete Kanchanmala Pande was forced to beg and borrow during the Para-Swimming Championships as Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) did not help her and five other athletes financially. As soon as the news surfaced, Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra was shell-shocked and tweeted in anger, “This is UNACCEPTABLE. People must be held unaccountable.” Bindra tagged PM Narendra Modi and Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel in his tweet.
Despite all the horrors the visually impaired swimmer went through, she still managed to bag a silver medal along with Suyash Jadhav and qualify for the World Para-swimming Championships. After everything she faced, she still hopes that this kind of incident does not happen in the future as she is hopeful of bagging a medal for her country in the World Championships.
While Pande shared the hardships she had to go though. On the other hand, the Vice President of Sports Authority of India (SAI) played the blame game with Paralympic Association of India (PCI).
With Bindra expressing his anger at the treatment of Indian athletes and that too who are visually impaired, leaving them high and dry on foreign soil without any financial resources. The issue becomes much fierce and might put pressure on the SAI and PCI to give a justification and hold people who were accountable for this inhumane behaviour.
This is UNACCEPTABLE. People must be held accountable. @VijayGoelBJP @narendramodi https://t.co/dBIrey8TYR
— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) July 12, 2017
A sports legislation which mandates all federations to professionalise is the only way ahead for Indian sport. The draft 1/2
— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) July 12, 2017
Prepared by @DGSAI committee is a good one- I hope it comes to force asap
— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) July 12, 2017
I never thought I would face such problems. I had to take a loan of Rs 5 lakh so that I could participate in the tournament,” Kanchanmala Pande, who is also an assistant with the Reserve Bank of India in Nagpur, told Mail Today.
“I had to qualify for the World Championships and I don’t know why PCI didn’t understand its importance. I was not given any official confirmation if I will receive a reimbursement for the expense I bore. I had to pay around Rs 70,000 (£844) for the hotel and more than Rs 40,000 (£482) for food,” Pande added.
