A power failure in India has cost Indian sportspersons entry in the Rio Olympics.
Srabani Nanda, an athlete from Odisha created a national record on Sunday when she clocked 100mts in 11.23 seconds in women’s. Her fellow runner from Odisha, Amiya Malik, also created a national record clocking men’s 100mts in 10.09 secs, enough to qualify for Rio Olympics.
But a power failure at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, forced the officials to manually record the timings which are not considered valid by the International Association of Athletics (IAAF).
DNA reported that miscommunication between the stadium authorities left the venue with no back-up power. Inspite of generators installed at the venue, no staff was present on duty on Sunday to operate the equipment.
This carelessness on the part of the authorities has robbed India and the athletes of their chance to participate in Rio Olympics.
"The fault lies with Sports Authority of India (SAI) because a full amount of Rs 5 lakh was paid in advance for the event," a DSAA official told DNA.
But that was vehemently denied by SAI stadia in-charge Kapil Kaul. "Neither DSAA paid us for any power back-up at the time of booking nor arranged for its own generators," Kaul said.
