VIJAYAWADA: Arjuna awardee, international archer and Asian Games medallist Vennam Jyothi Surekha has alleged that the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh gave a cash award to the coach Cherukuri Satyanarayana by cutting her cash award.
She spoke to the media here on Sunday and expressed her anguish. Surekha demanded stern action against the officials involved in diverting the funds to Satyanarayana who was not her coach. She announced that she would go on a hunger strike if no action was taken.
She said that Rs 22.67 lakh, was declared as cash award through GO RT No: 147 on April 11, 2017 for the national and international medals she won till the year 2016. It has been deducted from the Rs 1 crore cash award which has not been given to any athlete till date. In GO RT No: 147, issued on April 11, 2017, 13 out of 17 medals were not included for the cash incentive. As per sports Policy 1999, GO RT No: 84, on May 4, 2000 an amount of over Rs 50 lakh was due as cash incentive she added.
On August 31, 2017 Andhra Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had announced Rs 1 crore cash prize, a house site and a Group 1 job after she received the Arjuna award. On May 3, the government issued GO RT No: 154 for releasing the announced cash award to Surekha. But the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) announced a cash award of Rs 15 lakh to archery coach Cherukuri Satyanarayana along with Surekha’s cash award, stating that he was her coach.
But Surekha said that Ch. Satyanarayana had never trained her and he was, in fact, responsible for creating every hurdle in her path. Surekha alleged that Satyanarayana had been a constant cause of mental agony to her and her family. She said her first coach was J. Rama Rao and now Jeevan Jyothi Singh.
Her father V. Surendra, said that the Sports authority had been harassing sportspersons while announcing various cash awards. He alleged that the officers diverted the prize money announced by the CM.
He demanded that the SAAP officers correct their mistakes and award all the announced facilities. He said that after receiving the Arjuna Award, Surekha won five international medals for which she had not received any appreciation or cash incentive from SAAP.
Speaking to the media, former President of the Archery Association Velagapudi Ramakrishna alleged that the top officer had misled and diverted the prize money allotted to Surekha.
