Mumbai: The new development in OP Jaisha case after a statement released by Jaisha’s personal coach Nikolai Snesarev narrates a different tale turning her allegations against her. India’s sports minister Vijay Goel constituted a two-member committee to probe into marathon runner OP Jaisha row after allegations by the runner on the absence of officials to provide water.
Nikolai said that Jaisha has never used personalised drinks during marathon competitions and when asked her for better clarity whether she would need them in Rio, she said a clear no after which he informed the Indian Athletics officials about the same.
Jaisha, however, has alleged that Athletics Federation of India officials did not arrange for water and energy drinks during the race and she was forced to run under the scorching heat without the country’s refuelling booth as there was nobody manning the booths, due to which she nearly died while running.
Nikolai revealed to PTI from the SAI Centre in Bengaluru on Thursday, “A day before the race, Radhakrishnan Nair (deputy chief coach) asked me whether Jaisha would need individual refreshment or drinks for the race. I asked her whether she will use personalized drinks or normal water provided by organizers. She said she will use normal water only. Then I told Nair that she will not need personalized refreshment and she would prefer pure water. That is it.”
“Jaisha had never used individual drinks during competitions from the beginning of her Olympics preparations and she had run with only normal water. She used only normal water provided by organizers during the World Championships in Beijing in August last year. The whole of 2016, Jaisha did not use personalized drinks during competitions,” he added.
Another Indian in the same race Kavita Raut had confirmed that she was asked by the AFI officials if she would need personalized refreshments to which she also had said no since she had never used them earlier in competitions.
Kavita seemed to have no problem with the way the arrangement was made by the Indian officials. It is only Jaisha, who fainted at the finish mark to raise questions over the negligence as she had to bear the brunt of dehydration. She also alleged that other countries had their refuel stations after every 2.5 km mark except India (stations were without officials) and that the Rio’s official stations were only after every 8km which was her only saving grace.
When asked about the water arrangements by Rio officials and if they were sufficient, Nikolai said, “I did not run the race and have not followed Jaisha throughout the entire 42km. How can I? So, I would not know the exact situation. It would seem from a distance that the water arranged by the organizers was sufficient. My situation was as good as yours watching on a television. But I had spoken to some runners who took part in the race, who finished 70th and below out of the 157 runners and who ran behind the leading pack, and their coaches. They said water was there but after the 25 to 30km mark, it was not sufficient. That is what these runners and coaches said. I have no means to verify what they said.”
“When I spoke to Jaisha after the race, she also said the same, that the water available was not adequate in the second part of the course after around 25-30km”, he added.
There will be new developments in the case in the next few days by the two-member committee of Onkar Kedia, joint secretary (sports) and Vivek Narayan (sports). They are given a span of seven days to present their report.