Kochi: There was chaos at one point during the meet when a group of physical education teachers raised slogans alleging deliberate attempt to disqualify their athletes from the race walk event.
Their claim was that the officials had brandished red card to a few of their athletes without issuing warning.
Tearful visuals of the kids were shown repeatedly in news channels as the teachers called for justice.
Six athletes in the junior boys 5 km event and two in the junior girls 3 km event were disqualified. Two of them were from Palakkad and one each from Ernakulam, Kollam, Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur and Pathanamthitta.
As we probed into the matter it appears the physical education teachers, who cried foul could be wrong in their understanding of the technical side of the event.
Race Walking is an event that might be least appealing, but since K T Irfan walked to the 10th position in the London Olympics, the event has received overwhelming response and number of participants in school meets has increased manifold.
“Let us be clear about the event. The fouls usually committed are 'loss of contact' and 'bent knee' for which we issue a caution first and if repeated the athlete is given a red card,“ said chief judge K A Joy, who has officiated the event at the Asian Championship and the Commonwealth Games.
“Here they say we did not issue a warning.
For a basic understanding, the moment an athlete starts running he has made himself ineligible and is disqualified directly and it has been two years since warning has gone from the books,“ clarified Joy.
Hence the physical education teachers who raised allegations were unaware of the technicality of the event.
Sadly, the kids, in their attempt to better their timings 'ran' and were out. In sports you always play by the rules. Let us not make it personal.
