Wrestler Divya Kakran who won a bronze medal at Asian Games in Indonesia slammed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his government for not supporting athletes. Divya Kakran during the facilitation ceremony told Kejriwal on his face that she could have won gold medal if government had lend their support to her.
“I’d won a medal at the Commonwealth Games (in Gold Coast, Australia, earlier this year) and you had told me that I will receive more help going forward. But not even my phone calls were answered,” Kakran told Kejriwal in front of other medal winners and government officials.
“You’re felicitating us today but please also think of poor kids aspiring to become athletes. You’ve gathered us today to congratulate us but there’s no support provided when we need it most. If we’re given that support at the right time then we can even win gold,” she added.
However, Keriwal dodge the matter by saying that his polices gets snubbed due to politics at the higher level. “You’ll must have read in newspapers how there are obstacles being put in front of the work we try to do. What you’re saying is right. Not just you, many athletes come to us with similar complaints. However, whichever policies we have drafted until now have been shunted for some reason or the other at the higher level. The felicitation we’re doing today is only because of the Supreme Court’s recent judgement,” he said.
Kakran, in an interview with ABP News, also reflected on the struggles she had to face to win a medal for the country at the 2018 Asian Games. “At times I didn’t even have enough glucose to quench my thirst after practice, but I had the determination to do something and big so I would drink water and get back on the mat. When I was preparing for the Asian Games, we had approached Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for help, I told him about my torrid financial condition they even assured me of help but to no avail. Till date I haven’t received any support from the Delhi government,” she said.
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