Kochi: Kerala High Court has criticised the Athletic Federation of India for denying athlete P.U. Chitra a chance to participate in the IAAF World Championships. The court allowed the appeal filed by the AFI seeking to set aside the order of the single judge directing it to ensure the participation of Chitra. A division bench held that passing an interim order was a futile exercise in view of the fact that no entries could have been sent after July 23. The court observed that AFI defeated Indian athletes even before their participation in the events.
The court pointed out that an open letter issued by the AFI clearly stated that the athletes must participate in the inter state championships in Guntur and they will not be considered by the selection committee for the selection for the world championships if they did not perform close to the IAAF qualifying standards. While the AFI insisted on this stand, Swapna Barman and G. Lakshmanan, both did not participate in the Guntur meet, had been included in the Indian team for the event.
