There was drama around the results of the 20km women’s race walk with Rani Yadav of Uttar Pradesh claiming officials had deliberately forced her to do an extra lap and end her hopes of a silver.
“I had timed every single lap and was far ahead of the others in second place. But the officials told me I had completed one lap less, forcing me to do an extra lap and ensure I did not get a medal in the process,” she alleged.
She also blamed the UP team manager and coaches of colluding in the decision and not lodging a formal complaint. However, she did not say why she herself did not give a written complaint to the officials.
Technical officials, however, refuted the claim. “She is from UP. If anything, the organisers would love to see her win a medal. But there are two lap officials with their own master-sheets recording every athlete’s number of laps and their timings. Both sit separately and in this case, both had identical records. How can both be wrong? She made a verbal protest and we still looked into the matter but found everything in order,” a UPAA official said. — Special Correspondent
