Indian Weightlifting Federation suspends tainted coach & orders probe

A day after the news published about Karnam Malleswari’s allegations that a national weightlifting coach had been sexually harassing women athletes for years, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) suspended the coach, Ramesh Malhotra, and constituted a threemember committee to probe the matter. It has been learnt that sports minister MS Gill had ordered an inquiry into the matter on Saturday morning, which forced the federation into action.

Malleswari was pleased that the IWF had finally swung into action. “ I’m glad this action (suspending Malhotra) has been taken.

Even though he had once been suspended by his employers, the Sports Authority of India ( SAI) and banned from entering the SAI Centre in Bangalore, he came back and was given charge of the women’s teams again. I feel IWF officials who were responsible for Malhotra continuing as a coach should also be sacked,” she said. Malhotra had been in charge of the women’s national camp in Patiala, where the senior team is preparing for the Commonwealth Games.

He shot himself in the foot on Saturday when he called up Sydney Olympics bronze medallist Malleswari, offering her a bribe in order to keep silent and let him win the Dronacharya award, for which he had been recommended by the IWF for the second year running.

Malleswari confirmed this development. “ He called me and said ‘ let me get the award and I will quit weightlifting forever. I just want the Dronacharya award. You can keep the cash reward it carries’,” said Malleswari. She received another call from Malhotra a while later where he accepted having harassed athletes in the past.

“ He called up again after a while and said he had made those ‘ mistakes’ but that he was a ‘ changed man’ now. But I want to ask — to do such things with girls who leave home to dedicate themselves to the sport — is that a ‘ mistake’ or paap ( sin)? I think what he has done on purpose with these junior lifters is a crime and a sin,” she said.

The committee will be headed by IWF vice- president Kumbasi Subramanya and will feature veteran coach Pal Singh Sandhu and IWF joint- secretary Madan Lal Salvi. It has to submit its report within seven days.

Announcing the formation of the committee, IWF secretary Sahdev Yadav said: “ We ( the office bearers) took charge only in December and haven’t received any complaint from players or anybody about sexual harassment by any coach or officials. But we don’t want to ignore anything so we have decided to suspend Malhotra.” However, he denied that Malleswari had raised the issue at an IWF meeting in Udaipur in February.

But Malleswari, also an IWF vice- president, rubbished the claim, saying that officials were in cahoots with Malhotra.

“ Yadav is lying. Yes, the new panel took charge less than a year ago but in Udaipur, I told everyone - even our president ( BP Baishya) - about this man’s activities and urged them to get rid of him. When the president asked the other members, they all agreed with me and I got an assurance that the coach will not be kept on for long,” she said.

“ Some time later, we had another meeting in the IWF office where I asked the secretary about the lack of action against him ( Malhotra). He lost his temper and said ‘ we’ll have to take character certificates from everyone’, to which I responded that it should be done, since it was a question of the girls’ lives and their families’ confidence in us and we had to take the responsibility.

“ Despite all this, they were defending the coach – and had even recommended him for the Dronacharya award.” Malleswari alleged that Yadav was taking decisions without taking other office- bearers into confidence.

“ If ( Malhotra) was such a super coach that we couldn’t remove him, why wasn’t he assigned to any men’s team? The secretary recommended him for such a big award. I don’t know about other office- bearers, but I, as someone who has spent more than 20 years in the sport, didn’t have a clue about it. I don’t think there was consensus among office- bearers,” she said.

“ The secretary is new to weightlifting. He doesn’t know anything about the sport. Why did he come into the federation? I don’t think it was anything to do with the sport itself. When an international lifter’s complaints aren’t taken seriously, what else can you say? The secretary is corrupt.” Malleswari also urged Gill to personally look into the inquiry.

“ The minister has to look into the matter. I think there needs to be a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into this, so that such coaches are given the harshest possible punishment for their misdeeds,” she said.