Senior athletics coach M.V. Rajasekhar, of Universal Sports Foundation, has been barred for two years by the Tamil Nadu Athletic Association (TNAA) for allegedly “misbehaving” with one of his [woman] trainee athletes. Speaking to The Hindu on Thursday, W.I. Davaram, president of TNAA, said that “it was a very fair judgement.”
Additionally through a press-release, Davaram said: “Following a large number of complaints of misbehaviour with trainee-athletes, a confidential enquiry was conducted against athletic coach M.V. Rajasekhar. The enquiry proved beyond doubt the misconduct of the coach. In the interest of the athletes, it has been decided to debar him from coaching for a period of two years.”
Rajasekhar, a former coach of the State team and a winner of Chief Minister’s award, termed the judgement by TNAA as “too harsh”. “A proper enquiry was not conducted,” he claimed.
The 54-year-old said he admitted to the TNAA about using foul language towards the athlete. “When the athlete did not go to the march past and didn’t report to the call room before her event, I shouted. That’s all I did,” said Rajasekhar, who has trained 2016 South Asian Games gold medallist J. Surendhar and Rio Olympian Mohan Kumar.
