Asian Para Games 2023: Indian athlete accuses Paralympic India of negligence after not getting classification to compete, PCI rejects claim

Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) have found itself in troubled waters during the Asian Para Games 2023 as one of the Indian para-athletes, Balwant Singh Rawat, and his coach have accused the body of negligence in informing athletes of the required documents, leading to his non-confirmation of classification for the event.

Balwant Singh Rawat, who competes in the men's 1500m and 5000m in T12-T13 (visual impairment categories), wasn't granted classification to compete in the Games by the organisers following a medical review and has now accused the PCI of negligence for his ordeal.

"He has all the documents needed to participate in the event but wasn't granted classification because his medical diagnostic report (for visual impairment) was from last year," said Balwant's coach Rakesh Kumar. "We blame PCI for this because they never informed us about the documentation procedure. He is a medal candidate and India is losing a medal because of PCI's negligence."

The para runner's complaint against PCI is not limited to just the documentation procedure as the Delhi-based man and his coach contacted myKhel a week earlier, claiming that PCI is not sending him to the Asian Para Games 2023 while the Paralympic body was preparing to send over 400-athletes to Hangzhou.

"We have been asking around why I am not being sent to China but PCI is not giving any clarity on why I haven't been sent my accreditation and tickets yet when I have qualified for the Asian Games 2023 on merit (ranked fourth in the continent)," Balwant said a week ago.

Upon probing by the website, it was learnt from the grapevine that the Asian Games 2023 organisers apparently sent an email to PCI that Balwant and another distance runner Hari Om were deemed ineligible to participate in the quadrennial event and was the reason why the para body kept them out of the initial list.

However, the athlete's coach expressed his surprise on learning about the email as he claimed PCI never informed Balwant officially of the same. In another surprise development soon after, PCI suddenly provided Balwant Singh with a ticket to Hangzhou and his accreditation for the Asian Games 2023 on October 19.

The decision to suddenly send Balwant to China was expectedly taken under media pressure as it came on the day when Balwant was supposed to be in Hangzhou for his registration in the event.

To the bemusement of many, the para-athlete, who represents Delhi at the national level, was first asked to go on his own cost to China with promises of reimbursement but sensibility soon prevailed and was provided with the air ticket soon after.

PCI president rejects claims, believes either Balwant or state body at fault

While Balwant was allowed to appear for the medical review despite arriving a day late for the registration, PCI president Deepa Malik rejected all the claims made by the athlete and added that Balwant was granted the leeway on PCI's request as they urged the organisers to give him a chance to prove his case.

Deepa, India's first women Paralympic gold medallist, instead believed that either Balwant or the Delhi Para Sports Association is at fault for negligence as PCI informed the state body of Balwant's ineligibility earlier.

"The claims by Balwant are preposterous," Deepa told the website. "PCI did everything in its official capacity to help him appear for the medical review to prove his classification. If an athlete is still not clearing the medical procedure with the IPC (International Paralympic Committee), which has its own set of experts and medical team, there's nothing PCI can do.

"As far as claims of PCI not informing him of the ineligibility earlier, I can assure you we have informed the state body through official email well in time before the contingent started leaving for Hangzhou. PCI did its bit of informing and have the email trail to prove it, you got to ask the state body if they inform Balwant of the same or not."

Balwant's coach Rakesh Kumar, however, laughed off Malik's claims of PCI sending an email to the state body, saying Delhi para athletes themselves are unaware of any state body that exists.

Interestingly, upon further research, it was found that the Delhi Para Sports Association's affiliation currently stands suspended, as per the official website of PCI. Also, it was found that there have been a handful of other Delhi athletes competing at the Asiad, who were asked to submit their documents by PCI back in September.

Allegations of favouritism against PCI's technical committee for athletics

Rakesh further claimed that there has been blatant favouritism in the selection of the athletes at the behest of Satyanarayan, who serves as the head of the athletics' technical committee and is also an athletics coach.

"The crux of the matter, this was done on purpose by the PCI as Satyanarayan saw Balwant as a threat to one of his athletes, who competes in the same category as him," claimed Rakesh. "Balwant competed in the Asian Para Games trial event, where he improved his personal best by a big margin. Since it was a trial event, the timings weren't registered but it was enough to attract Satyanarayan's attention."

MyKhel contacted Satyanarayan on the accusations and the PCI official said Balwant was at fault for not proving his classification in front of the para Games organisers while adding this wasn't the first time Balwant has been questioned at the international stage.

"He was red-flagged in Dubai (during the Dubai Grand Prix, where Balwant won a silver medal and earned classification for the Asian Para Games 2023) this year for his MRI report on visual impairment," said Satyanarayan. "He was allowed to keep the medal and result on humanitarian grounds by the organisers but did ask him to produce the report for the next international event. In the Asian Games, he couldn't clear the medical check-up again, so it's better to ask all the questions to him."

Satyanarayan refused to take further questions on allegations of favouritism by him and abruptly ended the call. The website also tried to reach PCI general secretary Gursharan Singh for further clarification but multiple calls on his phone went unanswered.

While it's hard to tell from the outside, who is at fault for Balwant Singh Rawat's ordeal in Hangzhou, the para athlete remains hopeful that an outside intervention will help him compete in the men's 1500m T13 final on October 25.