IOA gaffe: Wrong names on cheques!

New Delhi, September 23 

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was left red-faced  during Sunday’s felicitation ceremony to award cash prize to the Asian Games medallists as the parent body got multiple names wrong on the cheques and even missed out on one. Around 15 medallists including compound archers Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma were given just bouquets as their names were misspelt on the cheques.

The IOA awarded Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh, respectively, to the gold, silver and bronze medal winners in the team events. The individual medallists received Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, respectively.

“I would like to apologise in advance for our mistake. The names of around 14-15 players have been printed incorrectly on the cheques so we will give them a bouquet. But don’t worry, you will get your cash prizes. I don’t want to give cheques with misspelt names,” Narinder Batra, IOA president, said. 

Divya’s name missing

In another embarrassing moment, the organisers forgot to mention the name of bronze medal winning wrestler Divya Kakran. It was only after Kakran’s parents raised the issue with Batra after the ceremony had ended that the president called Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, who had almost left the venue, to announce the prize for Kakran. “They are saying her name is not in the list but we had given her name. I don’t know what is happening,” Kakran’s mother said.

“There is always a first time. The players performed so well that we decided to award them with cash prize. We will continue to give these cash awards in future, be it the Olympics, Commonwealth Games or the Asian Games,” Rajeev Mehta, IOA secretary general, said. — PTI