Commonwealth Games: Two Indian jumpers stand to miss out due to AFI’s delay in sending entries

The Athletics Federation of India has failed to register the names of jumpers M Sreeshankar and Siddharth Yadav, who were among the declared contingent for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, leaving their participation in doubt. The duo performed above expectations at the Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships.

Sources within the AFI, who had a hand in the accreditation process, had accordingly sent a long list with the names of 100-plus athletes including some who had not appeared for the Federation Cup. These names were all selected based on their past performances at national and international meets, irrespective of whether they were part of the national camps.

AFI secretary CK Valson had admitted during the Federation Cup in Patiala that the federation had a minor challenge on its hand, “Yes, it is a slight problem. You see, the accreditation process ended in February but some have surprised us with their performances. You can only enter an athlete by name if they are present in the original accreditation list. We have written to the Gold Coast organising committee to try and include some more names in the final list. We are awaiting their reply.”

During the meet, Valson had also claimed that the deadline for the AFI had been extended to March 9. The AFI’s selection committee met on the last day of the Federation Cup (March 8) but made the list publicly available only by the evening of March 10.

Valson was not reachable for comment on Wednesday but the AFI secretary had told PTI, “The accreditation process for the athletes had ended in mid December last year. We did not include the names of M Sreeshankar and Siddharth Yadav in the provisional list because we did not expect them to cross the qualifying mark.”

Timelines don’t match AFI claim

The Gold Coast’s Sport Entries and Qualification (SEQ) module had gone live on January 4, 2018. The handbook for the Gold Coast games states, “CGAs [Commonwealth Games Associations] will be able to access the SEQ System from 4 January 2018 until 7 March 2018. For the avoidance of doubt, the SEQ system will facilitate the athlete Entry by Name process, as opposed to Entry by Number due on 22 September 2017.”

While Sreeshankar has improved drastically in the last year or so, missing the AFI’s prescribed criteria for CWG by 1 cm in the long jump, his name was included in the federation’s initial list. Sreeshankar had jumped 7.99 metres to win the Federation Cup ahead of experienced jumpers Wayne Peppin, Nikhil Chittarasu and Ankit Sharma.

Siddharth Yadav’s jump of 2.25 metres saw him finish second in the high jump event of Federation Cup and meet the AFI’s guidelines, but he had clocked a jump of 2.23 metres at the Open Nationals in Chennai. Similarly, Sreeshankar had jumped 7.72 at the Open Nationals and 7.83 in Fed Cup qualification on the 5th of March.

Yadav’s event was on the evening of March 7, by which time it is possible that the SEQ module had shut down but Sreeshankar’s event had finished on March 6.

Sreeshankar’s coach is his father and former athlete S Murali and the 19-year-old is also being mentored by Bobby George.

When contacted for comment, the CWG’s chef-de-mission Vikram Sisodia had gone by the deadlines mentioned in the handbook but also stated that it was possible to alter entries, “There is a provision for the CGA’s to write to the Gold Coast Organising Committee and ask them for alteration of the entries. We are hopeful of the same.”

Incidentally, India’s entries for Gymnastics had also been altered on March 6 after the International Gymnastics Federation had told the Indian Olympic Association that the registration and selection of athletes for the Games was the prerogative of the national federation.

The Field also reached out to the Gold Coast OC, and a response had not been received at the time of publishing. This article will be updated, as and when the Gold Coast OC does send a response.