PT Usha asked to share room, probe ordered

BHOPAL - The Madhya Pradesh Government has ordered a probe into the alleged denial of separate accommodation to sprint queen P.T. Usha during the 49th National Open Athletics Championships, though the organizers say that the mess occurred as she was not on the official list of invitees.

Usha who has symbolised the woman power in India and is still an inspiration for thousands of women athletes after her fourth-place finish in the 400 metres at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, had Monday alleged that there was no one to receive her and her students at the airport and when she reached the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) center on her own, she was asked to share her room with five others.

“Most of the officers were busy welcoming Sports Minister M.S Gill,” the ace runner told reporters at India Coffee House where she shifted after being refused separate accommodation at the SAI center.

She broke down before the reporters saying: “When I asked for a better accommodation, the officials refused, saying that I need to share my room with other athletes.”

“The centre has my framed photograph in the hostel but when I reached there, no one even cared to at least provide me separate accommodation. Had my husband not booked a room for me in the Coffee House, I would have wandered on the city’s streets searching for accommodation”, Usha maintained.

The star athlete was also told that she would have to wait till 2.30 p.m. as a function chaired by Gill was underway at the SAI Centre.

“I waited in the rain, hiding myself under an umbrella at the SAI centre and finally reached the Coffee House at 2 p.m. and had food as I was hungry”, Usha said.

Mumtaz Khan, secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Athletics Association, however, told IANS that Usha and her students were not on the official list of visitors for the championships that got underway Tuesday. News of her arrival came at the last moment and even then, a person was sent to receive her, he added.

Khan also claimed that though Usha’s demands of stay and other facilities could not be instantly met at the last moment “we later reached the Coffee House and requested her to shift to the hostel where a room was exclusively booked for her but she refused”.