Kuldeep Malik, who is the team coach of the national women's freestyle wrestling team, claimed on Sunday that he has not been awarded any cash prize or recognition from the government, despite earlier promises. Under his tutelage, Sakshi Malik had won bronze in the women's freestyle wrestling event at the Rio Olympics in August.
According to the report, the Haryana government had presented Malik with a photocopy of a Rs 10 lakh cheque during a felicitation event in August. However, a month later, the Sports Authority of India coach is yet to get the real cheque.
Malik also reportedly received a "promise of promotion" from current Railways minister Suresh Prabhu but that too was only word of mouth. Malik is a chief ticket inspector of Northern Railway currently. His attempts to get in touch with the Haryana government and the Railway Sports Promotion Board have been fruitless.
"There may be fat cash awards and a super luxury BMW car for Sakshi but I've not got anything, even the promises are still to be met," said Malik, who has coached Sakshi since 2011. "I'm yet to get a penny. I've repeatedly followed it up for the cheque but the officials have kept on dilly-dallying."
Talking about the promotion by the Railway minister, Malik said: "When I told the Railway officials about the Minister's promise, they said that coaches were not given promotion on basis of their disciple's success."
However, Malik said that Sakshi still treats him in the same manner. "She gives me tremendous respect whenever we meet. I'm not begging for any cash rewards but at least you should keep your promise. Everyone knows what we have achieved and I will always think that Sakshi's bronze will remain my biggest reward," he said.
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