Bhubaneswar: It was a perfect case of so near yet so far for four Odisha martial art exponents as they suffered heartbreaks after missing the bus for the upcoming Asian Games at Jakarta by a whisker.
Upcoming karatekas Payal Baral, Dilip Jena and Jiu Jitsu fighters Priyadarshini Ghatuari and Satya Beuria were certain for the Asiad contingent. However, they were dropped from the team at the last moment.
“Dilip’s case was an unfortunate one. He is one of the brightest karatekas in the country and was almost a certainty in the Indian team. But unfortunately at the start of the year he got a nasty injury in the first trial camp and is still struggling to recover,” stated UKS founder and coach Hari Patnaik.
“It was heartbreak for Payal also. She attended several trial and training camps throughout the year in different parts of the country and abroad. She made it to the final squad. But much to her despair, the IOA decided at the last moment not to include the girls’ karate team in the Asiad contingent and send only two men karatekas instead. It has been a great shock for Payal and has completely demoralised her. She will take a long time to recover from this setback,” Patnaik added.
It is really sad that the IOA decided to prune the Asiad contingent at the last moment. As a result sportspersons like Payal and Priyadarshini had to suffer career setbacks
Hari Patnaik – coach
Similarly Priyadarshini and Satya, who trains in Bangalore, were selected in the final Jiu Jutsu squad. However, the IOA, again at the last moment, omitted the entire team from the group and both had to suffer. “Both of them are international standard fighters, but ignoring them in such a harsh manner definitely is a huge setback,” Patnaik asserted.
The UKS head expressed anguish over the IOA’s step-motherly attitude towards combative sports. “Karate is now an Olympic sport and India have a lot of potential in it. But the way government as well as the IOA is treating the sport doesn’t augur well for the country aspiring to be a sporting power,” he signed off with a broken voice.
