I've been wrongly denied Dronacharya Award: Satyanarayana

Bengaluru, August 19: Para-sports coach Satyanarayana on Saturday (August 19) said he has been wrongly denied the Dronacharya Award by the government as he has not been chargesheeted in the defamation case, pending at a Delhi court.

Satyanarayana, who has coached Rio Paralympics gold medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu, has been dropped from the list of this year's Dronacharya awardees due to a criminal case pending against him before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Saket in Delhi.

"I have been wrongly denied an opportunity to receive the Dronacharya Award. Some people are jealous of my achievements and have made false allegations against my nomination for the award," said Satyanarayana.

"I am shocked to hear these media reports that my name has been struck down on the basis of this defamation case.

"This case relates to a private complaint by someone who wanted to exact revenge for ousting him from Paralympic Committee of India. Moreover, the case has not reached chargesheeting/chargeframing stage and only summons were served. If I am going to be denied the Dronacharya Award on this basis, I feel it is not correct," he said.

The complaint was filed by the former PCI chief Rajesh Tomar, who was ousted by the national para-sports body in 2015 on allegations of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds.

Asked if he will legal recourse on this issue, Satyanarayana said: "I am not the person to go to a court to get an award. I will respect the decision of the Sports Ministry. But I want to tell the world that I have done nothing wrong and I have been denied the award despite my achievements."

Satyanarayana said he had written to Sports Minister Vijay Goel and Dronacharya award committee chairman Pullela Gopichand to allow him to present his side of the story but he did not get a reply.