Arjuna awardee Manoj Kumar who won a Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games back in 2010 has accused Sports Authority of India of not providing financial help after suffering from an injury.
Manoj who has also represented India in London and Rio Olympics has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left hip. Rajesh Rajound who is the elder brother of Manoj Kumar wrote a letter to Sports Minister of India Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and said that SAI has nor provided any assistance for Manoj’s groin injury.
“The concerned officials are deliberately playing politics in the matter and I request you, as a concerned Sports Minister, that an immediate inquiry be launched…I request you, that steps be taken to ensure that he receives immediate and proper medical attention,” Rajesh Kumar stated in the letter.
Meanwhile, Manoj is out of training camp ever since suffering from the injury at the Asian Games.
“The estimated cost of treatment mentioned by the hospital is Rs 5,30,400. However, even after sending all the medical reports, I have yet to get any concrete reply from the concerned officials.”
Meanwhile, SAI has fired back and said that they have provided Manoj Kumar with the much needed financial assistance and also accused him of hiding his fitness issues.
“Manoj is a senior boxer and was fully supported when he was under the TOPS scheme. He was treated in Mumbai’s Kokilaben Hospital at the full cost of the government. But once he was dropped from the TOPS because of dip in his performance we couldn’t support him fully,” SAI stated.
According to Manoj Kumar, the only financial assistance provided to him was from the Boxing Federation of India.
“But still we kept on supporting him under the NSF scheme which only allows for treatment of injuries and not rehabilitation of an athlete,” the SAI official said. “He repeatedly hid his injuries and wanted to be a part of the national camp. Still, we gave him the option of joining the camp at his own cost or his employer’s [Railways] but he denied,” he added.
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