Asian Games: India's athletics body to protest against officials over wrong decisions

A day after Neeraj Chopra andKishore Kumar Jena braved terrible officiating during the javelin thrown finals event at the Hangzhou Asian Games,Anju Bobby George, senior vice president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) hasaccused Chinese officials of deliberately targeting Indian athletes.

George claimed that winning in China was difficult for Indiansas their officials were always up to some 'mischief' to disrupt the athletes.

"This is not only with the Neeraj. Firstly, it happened with our workers. Secondly, it happened with our Jyothi, and yesterday it happened with our javelin thrower, Annu Rani. And today it happened with Jena and Neeraj. So this is not just, uh I think they are purposefully doing this. I'm deeply, uh, saddened to see such kinds of incidents happening in the Asian Games," said George.

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She added that the federation was looking to lodge protest against the Chinese officials.

"We are planning to protest against the officials. Now the competition is over. We've got gold and silver for Neeraj, Jena and Annu Rani. But this cannot because we knew. uh, our winning medals in China is very difficult. Even if you do better, they will do some mischief."

Notably, on Wednesday (October 4), Chopra won the gold medal butnot before he was asked to re-attempt his first throw which was not measured during the first try, due to reasons unknown.

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Neeraj Chopra questions officials

Speaking after the event,Chopra questioned the officials, whilst urging the Indian side to look into the matter.

“They didn’t measure it properly. The next athlete threw quickly after me and then they lost the mark. For a while, they kept searching for the point of landing. I went and asked the officials what happened. I knew it was a good throw. I don’t know exactly how far it went but it felt good. Because they couldn’t figure out the mark, they offered to let me do the first throw again," said Chopra.

“The more we delayed, it was ruining the competition for other athletes also. Because there was wind and everyone was getting cold. This is the first time I am seeing something like this. The rule is six but I threw seven,” Chopra said after the event.

The controversies did not stop there as Chopra's compatriot and countryman Kishore Kumar Jena, who secured the silver medal, was wrongly flagged for an illegal attempt during one of his throws.

Chopra also pointed towards a similar error involving another Indian athlete earlier in the day. Notably, India's Jyothi Yarraji was wrongly disqualified for a false start in the women’s 100m hurdles race.

“Happened with Jyothi too. And with me and Jena too.Gadbad toh hai.(This is wrong). But our results spoke for themselves. Despite everything, our hard work paid off. Our team should definitely look into why so many things have gone wrong. I haven’t seen this in big competitions because, after a disruption to the first throw, it could have thrown me off balance. We saw how Jyothi had to fight."

Despite the blockades, India is having its best-ever performance at the Asian Games and could easily end up with more than 90 medals.

(With inputs from agencies)

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