Only 10 days ago, Kamalpreet Kaur managed the impossible, throwing the disc to a distance of 66.59m, the first woman in India to do so. On Tuesday, things became murky with former champion and veteran Seema Punia raising concerns on her genuineness and seeking a hyperandrogenism test from the federation and the Sports Authority of India.
On the day the 37-year old Seema qualified for her fourth Olympics – interestingly in a field bereft of Kamalpreet – she also sought support from the officials in her “fight for fair play”.
READ: Seema Punia qualifies for Tokyo Olympics
“When she threw 65m (at the Federation Cup) I was the first to congratulate and appreciate her here. But when she crossed 66m and I saw the footage, I had my doubts. Beyond a point, sheer power cannot help a woman thrower go that distance. It requires technique, fitness, agility, a lot of other things, none of which she has,” Seema said.
“I have been around for more than 20 years. It won’t affect me. But think of the younger girls coming up, how can they compete in such an unfair field? Maybe I am wrong and I would love to be proven wrong. But there are doubts, not just from me but many others, and I think the federation should look into it,” she added. A copy of the letter she has written is with Sportstar.
AFI president Adille Sumariwalla refused to comment on the issue. “We get hundreds of complaints from various people every day and we look into all of them. I am not aware of it but if there is such an official complaint, we have a grievance committee that will look into the validity of it, the legality of the demand and then decide what to do,” he said.
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