The Asian Games 2023 are currently going on and the Indian players participating have been securing some good wins.
The sporting event held in China’s Hangzhou Olympic Park has sportspeople coming in from all over Asia and taking part in a number of games from 23rd September to 8th October 2023.
However, recently, Anju Bobby George from the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and India’s champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has come out with accusations of Indian players being targetted and the Asian Games organisers cheating.
What Happened At The Asian Games?
On 4th October, Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra won a gold medal at the 19th Asian Games in the men’s javelin throw final. Chopra won with his season-best throw of 88.88m while another Indian player Kishore Jena came second with a throw of 87.54m.
But the issue came up when the Chinese authorities did not register the throws of the sportsmen irking the players.
Chopra after making a successful throw saw that his distance was not being displayed on the scoreboard despite waiting for several minutes. When he approached the referees, the game was paused and the authorities claimed that there was a technical issue that caused the equipment to not calculate the distance of his throw.
Reports claim that his first throw had landed somewhere around the 85m mark, but he was asked to retake his throw.
Kishore Jena also went through a similar situation when he was actually disqualified after his second throw even after he had not violated any regulatory mandates.
The organizers claimed that this throw had crossed the throwing line but after Neeraj made Kishore talk with the officials, a replay was shown and the decision was overturned with the throw being considered legal.
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What Are The Anju Bobby George and Neeraj Chopra Saying?
Anju Bobby George, who is a Senior Vice President Athletics Federation of India speaking to the media after the event said “Neeraj’s first throw was a very good throw. But they weren’t ready to measure it. Same thing also happened with Annu Rani (who won gold for India in women’s javelin throw event) yesterday. I don’t know why they are doing this with Indian athletes. They are trying to cheat us, disturb our athletes. Neeraj’s first throw was a very good one.”
George, a respected long jumper also accused the organisers saying “They are trying to cheat us and trying to disturb our athletes. Neeraj’s first throw was very good and it was a kind of disturbance. We called Neeraj to protest there itself. Jena’s throw was also called foul when he was one foot behind the line.”
She added, “Winning in China is very difficult so though we are the best runners, throwers, jumper they will do all such mischief and disturb our athletes.”
Neeraj Chopra also spoke about it with reporters saying “I don’t know why they did not measure my first throw. Just after me, the second and third competitors had their throws and their distance were measured.
I kept on asking what happened to my first throw. Was puzzled and confused, it has never happened in any competition I have competed in till now. I think they lost my landing mark and they kept on looking for it.”
In another report, he explained “I normally throw 6 throws in a competition. Today I had to throw 7. I have never seen anything like this before. There was something wrong. They did not measure my throw and by the time the next guy threw and they lost my mark. The first throw looked good, I’ll look at the video again to see how far it might have gone.”
He also brought up Jena’s issue saying “One of the officials said the second athlete after me had taken his throw quickly. It was a bizarre situation.”
Chopra however, claimed that “I did not have any other means, I thought there was no point arguing for long. I also thought it was affecting the competition of other competitors. The other competitors were waiting and I need to respect them also. The wind was blowing and everybody was feeling cold. So, I thought I would take the throw later.”
Chopra also brought up the issue with Indian athlete Jyothi Yarraji saying “I felt bad that my first throw in such a big competition went like that. Jyothi ki saath bhi aisa huwa, mere saath garbar huwa hey. Jena ka ek throw mey bhi huwa.
So there were issues, but finally, I would say our results were good. Despite whatever has been done, we have shown that we came prepared.
Our team should certainly look into why there are so many issues we are facing, I have never seen these kinds of things in big competitions. I or some other athlete could have been mentally down after the first throw. Anything could happen. Jyothi also fought.”
The situation with Jyothi happened on 1st October during the women’s 100m hurdles final. Yarraji was initially disqualified for a false start and even when allowed to participate was told her timing would not be recorded officially.
Yarraji then ran the race with China’s Wu Yanni, another one initially disqualified with Yanni finishing first and Yarraji third, however, as per reports her medal was upgraded to silver from bronze afterward.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Indian Express, India Today, Livemint
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This post is tagged under: Asian Games, Asian Games 2023, Asian Games Gold Medalist, Asian Games Medal, Asian Games Medals Table, Asian Games Medals Tally, Asian Games Special, Hangzhou 2023, Hangzhou Asian Games, Neeraj Chopra, Neeraj Chopra Asian Games 2023, Anju Bobby Georg, Athletics Federation of India, Kishore Jena, Kishore Jena Asian Games, Jyothi Yarraji, Jyothi Yarraji Asian Games, cheating, China, javelin, Chinese authorities, India
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