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This story is from September 12, 2018

Did sheer apathy rob India of 70th medal at the Asian Games?

Four days before the 2018 Asian Games were to begin, an Indian paraglider received a letter. It came from the Indonesian Asian Games Organising Committee (INASGOC). The letter was an invitation for India to participate in paragliding at the Games.
Did sheer apathy rob India of 70th medal at the Asian Games?
Key Highlights
  • Indonesian Asian Games Organising Committee invited India to participate in paragliding at Asiad
  • The Indonesian AG organising committee sent an invitation letter on Aug 14 specifically for paragliding, extending the deadline to facilitate India's entry
  • But no Indian paragliding team was sent for the Games due to IOA's reluctance
NEW DELHI: Four days before the 2018 Asian Games were to begin, an Indian paraglider received a letter. It came from the Indonesian Asian Games Organising Committee (INASGOC). The letter was an invitation for India to participate in paragliding at the Games. The last date for applications was also pushed, just to accommodate Indian participation. It was sent to the paraglider because he is known to the officials organising the debut of paragliding at an Asiad.
The date was August 14. The Asian Games opened on August 18. During those anxious 96 hours in between, Indian paragliders and officials of the Aero Club of India (ACI), which runs the sport in the country, tried all they could to make the Indian Olympic Association agree to send them to Indonesia to participate. But they only encountered what they allege as apathy towards the sport and possibly another historic medal. No Indian paragliding team was sent for the Asian Games.
TimesofIndia.com first reported the plight of paragliders in a report dated July 23. Numerous amendments in the list of Asian Games contingent kept the pilots, as paragliders are officially called, hopeful. But what they narrate is a story of false promises.
The said letter dated August 14 was accessed by TimesofIndia.com. Undersigned by competition manager Wahyu Yudha, INASGOC extended the deadline to facilitate the entry of Indian pilots because of their "potential" in the sport.
"Due to the potential and capabilities of your pilots (athletes) to get Medals in Asian Games 2018, herewith we'd like to ask you to send your athletes...for Paragliding Sport and make the registration during the deadline which is extended until today (14/8)," the invitation letter mentions.
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Gurpreet Dhindsa, Vijay Soni, Arvind Paul, Jyoti Thakur and Ajay Kumar were the pilots proposed for the men's cross-country (CX) team event at the Games.
Though the INASGOC didn't send the letter directly to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as per protocol, it did reach its eventual destination, the IOA office, via the ACI -- the governing body for aero-sports in India and recognised as a Sports Federation by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Interestingly, long before paragliding's jeopardised participation reached the eleventh hour, on February 26 this year each of the five proposed pilots were asked to submit an undertaking by the IOA that their participation will be at no cost to the government of India or the ACI.

To stay on safe ground, the ACI made sure the undertaking was given on a plain piece of paper and not their official letterhead.
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"We said okay," an ACI source told TimesofIndia.com, confirming that the IOA refused to fund their participation. "The pilots were ready to bear the cost and not pass it to the IOA or the Sports Ministry. We gave them in writing," he said.
Time flew, so did promises over the next five months, and when nothing seemed to have materialised, the Asiad organisers sent a new and final paragliding invitation on August 14.
"They were coordinating with me because I had been there for the Asian Championship," said the pilot, who received the letter, on condition of anonymity. "They were asking me 'why is your team not coming?'."
After he shared the letter with the ACI, it was forwarded to the IOA office, but nothing happened.
"We spoke with (IOA president) Dr Narinder Batra. He said 'aap Mehta se baat karo' (talk to secretary general Rajeev Mehta) but all Mr. Mehta said was 'main dekhta hoon' (let me look into this)," the ACI official told TimesofIndia.com.
The ACI also approached the Sports Ministry but were given only "lip service".
The pilots then decided to go for one last throw of the dice -- they decide to call the IOA themselves.
"I then called Dr. Batra myself but the IOA kept ignoring our requests, saying they are working on it, a second list will come out, etc, but nothing happened. After some time, the IOA officials, including Rajeev Mehta, stopped answering our calls," the pilot said in disgust.
Incredibly, for the event India intended to participate in, the men's team cross-country, they are ranked higher than the eventual silver medallists Nepal and bronze medal winners Indonesia.
Ironically, most of the Nepalese pilots have been coached by Ajay Kumar, one of the Indian pilots proposed for the Asian Games.
"We knew what we were talking, while the IOA took a decision about a sport they have no idea about. If your intentions are good, then you would at least listen to us and understand," the ACI official said.
"We made very sincere efforts to make the IOA come around and see how we would have had a podium finish. India missed out on a medal, if not gold, in cross-country," he added.
"More than the medal, India lost a chance to make a mark in paragliding through one of the most recognisable sporting events in the continent." the official signed off.
RECENT PERFORMANCE OF INDIA'S TOP PARAGLIDERS
Gurpreet Dhindsa: 1. Turkish Pre-World Cup 2016 (4th); 2. Paragliding Pre European Event 2015 (4th)
Vijay Soni: 1. Panchgani Paragliding Open 2018 (4th)
Arvind Paul: 1. Panchgani Paragliding Open 2018 (5th); 2. Panchgani Paragliding Open 2017 (1st)
Jyoti Thakur: 1. Paragliding Asian Cup 2017 (34th); 2. Paragliding World Cup 2015 (104th)
Ajay Kumar: 1. Panchgani Paragliding Open 2018 (1st); 2. Nepal Open Paragliding Championship 2018 (1st); 3. Pre PWC Sigi and Indonesia National 2016 (3rd); 4. Pre PWC Nepal 2016 (2nd)
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