Two athletes dropped from Asian Para Games contingent due to lack of medical documents

The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) has dropped two athletes from the Indian contingent due to lack of proper medical documents to compete at the ongoing fourth Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, a senior official of the PCI told Sportskeeda.

Deepa Malik, president of the PCI confirmed the development saying two athletes were “Not Eligible” as per the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) guidelines to compete at the Asian Para Games and were dropped from the national team.

“There is proper verification of documents by PCI and Sports Authority of India (SAI) before finalising the national team. The process is transparent. We can’t include athletes who don’t meet the minimum eligible criteria for their respective category,” Deepa said.

An official of the Indian Blind Sports Association (IBSA) said several visual handicap athletes don’t get their documents examined by the association.

“Visual handicap athletes who don’t have proper medical documents to support their category shouldn’t be allowed to compete at the national level,” the official added.

The IBSA official didn’t rule out manipulation. “It has come to light that visual handicap athletes did manage to compete at the 2022 national para-athletics meet in Bhubaneswar despite lack of proper documents,” the IBSA official said.

At the recent IPC board meeting held in Dubai, the T13 category was merged with T12, the PCI president said. For T13 and 12 no guide runners are allowed, while for T11 guide runners are needed.

“We double check documents and don’t encourage ineligible para-athletes to compete,” Deepa said.

Delhi based visual handicap athlete Balwant Singh Rawat, who was grouped in T12 category, was one of the athletes dropped from the Asian Para Games squad. Rawat said he was clueless as to why he was dropped from the Asian Para Games team. He had qualified for the T12 1500m event.

According to Rawat his medical documents were genuine.

“I had to spend Rs 2.60 lakh to compete at the Dubai Grand Prix. My international classification was approved,” Rawat said. “I didn’t receive any letter from the PCI that I’m not eligible for the Asian Para Games.”

Hari Om was the second para athlete dropped by PCI from the Asian Para Games team. Hari Om wasn’t available for comments.