24th Apr 2017
Haryana Impersonated Alleges Anju George ~ 14th National Youth Athletics Championship 2017
Posted on the 24 April 2017 by Sampathkumar Sampath
In Big bash league, in the
commentary box, former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds tried
impersonating the Yorkshire accent of former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott. Those following Chennai local league,
(especially Triplicanites) would have heard this story. There was this local team trying to break
into the lower division league. In the
all important match, with the team chasing, their ace batsman got out scoring
little opening the innings. Hearsay
stories put that, he went to a nearby saloon, had his head tonsured and came to
bat again ! impersonating another .. .. ..
At Nelson Mandela’s
funeral with top old leaders assembled including US president Barack Obama and
president Jacob Zuma, person named Thamasanqa
Jantjie stood on stage and translated eulogies from world leaders with series of hand signals – which were later
revealed to be nothing and the man a fake.
He later blamed his behavior on
a schizophrenic episode, saying he lost concentration, started hearing voices
and hallucinating. Deaf groups responded
immediately, saying he made no sense in any language and did not seem to know
the recognised signs for South Africa, Mr Mandela’s clan name Madiba, President
Jacob Zuma or former President Thabo Mbeki.
Now read this story of
impersonation accusation as it appeared in The Indian Express, Chennai edition.
With the sun setting on
the 14th National Youth Athletics Championship, overall victors Haryana were expected to walk
off into the sunset. Instead, the 50-odd contingent will be worried after one
of their male athletes was accused of impersonation by former World
Championship bronze medallist Anju Bobby George and the Kerala team. In Anju’s
words, the incident took place during the medley relay event on the third and
final day. “After finishing one of the laps, one of the boys just kept running
and went out of the scene and didn’t come back,” she told Express.
Haryana claimed gold in
the event but the former Olympian alleged that it was not the same boy who had
run the race. “I’m 100 per cent sure that it was not the same person.” As soon
as the race ended, the former long jumper set out to locate the mystery boy.
When the Haryana camp presented the said participant in front of her, she
refused to accept him as the same competitor. “The pictures clearly show that
he was wearing a wrist band and necklace while running.
Where did all of that
suddenly disappear? The boy in the picture looks quite muscular too. We are
always vigilant about malpractice but these keep happening,” Anju, who was
present at GMC Balayogi Athletics Stadium as an AFI observer, said. The athlete
in question said that his mother had given the bands to wear during the race.
“I removed it after the race. My teammates know that I am the one,” he told in
his defence. Kerala team coach Rajeevan K cited the team photographer as the
person who spotted the incident. “He found about it while looking at the
photographs,” Rajeevan said.
An Athletics Federation of
India representative lodged Kerala’s complaint and said that due diligence
would be done. Anju also lamented the fact that there is huge gap between
senior and youth-level athletes.“Youth athletes have a tough time assembling
for camps because of their studies and this needs to be addressed urgently. My
academy in Bengaluru has tied up with Sports Authority of India and we are
taking care of the athletes’ studies as well,” Anju said, while hinting that
the process of approaching the Court of Arbitration for Sports to claim her
Athens Olympics medal in long jump is also underway.
24th Apr 2017
24th Apr 2017