NEW DELHI: The image of Sachin Tendulkar enquiring about para powerlifter Sakina Khatun‘s hardships, while handing over the cash award to her during the felicitation function for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games medallists in 2014, would still be fresh in the minds of some sports fans.
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But that memory may soon fade away and with that Sakina’s achievements and desire to live her dream. The 25-year-old from Kolkata, who was struck down by polio when she was one-and-a-half years old, will not be there to represent the country at the upcoming Gold Coast CWG in Australia – despite being No. 2 in CWG and Asian rankings.

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The Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) has ignored Sakina – the only woman para-athlete in India’s history to win a medal at the CWG (bronze in Lightweight Category in Glasgow) till date – while picking the contingent for the CWG, despite the athlete meeting the eligibility criteria as marked by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

TOI spoke to several officials in the International Paralympics Committee (IPC), PCI, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Sakina to get to the root of the issue. And what has emerged is that Sakina’s entry was never sent to the CWG organisers despite India having three slots per gender available in the para powerlifting programme.

The five para-athletes selected in India’s CWG squad are Farman Basha and Ashok in the lightweight category (up to 61kg) and Sachin Chaudhary in the heavyweight (above 61kg), and two women table tennis players Maitri Sarkar and Vaishnavi Vinayak. Unlike the Olympics and Asian Games, the events for able-bodied athletes and para-athletes are conducted simultaneously at CWG.

Craig Spence, IPC’s communications and media director, informed through mail from Bonn: “In the para powerlifting programme, a Commonwealth Games Association (of a participating country) can only have three slots per gender. India has two athletes in the lightweight category (up to 61kg) and one in the heavyweight (above 61kg). India never made an application for the female athlete (Sakina) you mention.”
As per CGF’s eligibility criteria, the most important among the seven criteria is this one: “Has competed in at least one (1) recognised IPC Powerlifting competition between the compulsory period of September 1, 2015 and October 31, 2017”. Sakina participated in the Para Powerlifting World Cup in Dubai from February-March, 2017 and stood fourth in the ‘Women Open’ 45kg category. She also fulfils the six other criteria. On top of that, She also won silver at the Asian Open Championship in July 2015in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
When TOI contacted PCI secretary general J Chandrashekhar, he first said: “PCI has no role to play in the team’s selection. It’s done by the IPC, Gold Coast organizing committee and IPC”. But when confronted with Spence’s reply, he retracted, saying, “Maybe her name wasn’t there in the tracking system for athletes used by organisers to identify an athlete’s qualification criteria.”
An IOA functionary, too, responded in a similar fashion: “We finalised the names based on the list of athletes received from the CWG organisers. PCI never told us about the exclusion of Sakina’s name.” Spence, however, countered the claim. “It’s the national federation (PCI) which makes the recommendation of names to the National Olympic Association (IOA). Then, the IPC Powerlifting and CGF consider all nominations received and determine those slots to be allocated to CGAs (in this case PCI) for eligible events by names. Gold Coast OC then communicate places to CGAs. That’s how the process works.”
Source : timesofindia