Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist boxer Lovlina Borgohain has said she is experiencing “mental harassment” as her preparation for the Commonwealth Games has been hampered by the absence of her personal coach Sandhya Gurung at the Games Village in Birmingham.
“It is with great sadness that I am facing a lot of harassment,” Borgohain said in a post on Twitter on Monday.
“Every time my coaches who helped me win a medal at the Olympics have been taken away from my training process and competition. One of these coaches, Sandhya Gurung ji is also a Dronacharya awardee. Despite thousands of requests, he is always allowed to be late for my training. It hinders my training and puts me in a lot of difficulties and mental torture.
“Now, my coach Sandhya Gurung ji is out of Commonwealth Village as she is not allowed entry and my training has been stopped eight days before the Games. My second coach has been sent back to India despite my requests several times. I don’t understand how I should focus on my game. This situation ruined my performance during the last World Championships as well. I don’t want this politics to ruin my Commonwealth Games as well. I hope I can come out of this politics and win a medal for my country. Jai Hind,” she said.
Boxing Federation of India (BFI) secretary Hemant Kalita said the federation tried its best to get an accreditation for Sandhya so that she could be with the team.
“The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) allocated 25 per cent to the officials on the total number of athletes. We have 12 athletes, so we got four officials. We requested one and got four more. We put Sandhya’s name in the long list and requested her to be included, (Sports Authority of India (SAI) also approved her name, but IOA is not doing so.” Hindu,
“We named two women coaches who coach everyone. There is a doctor, two physios and a masseur. We couldn’t even send the team manager.
“Sending individual coaches is a problem. We named Sandhya after Lovlina. We are pursuing it with the IOA,” Kalita said.