Panvel: India could have set its sights on hosting the 2036 Olympics, but the country is yet to learn how to treat athletes.
Two of India’s top pole vaulters, Dev Meena and Kuldeep Yadav, were forced off a train and stranded for hours at Panvel railway station. The incident, involving fragile sporting equipment (poles) worth lakhs, has sparked outrage across social media.
The two were on their way back to Bhopal from the All India Inter-University Athletics Championships in Bengaluru, when a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) had an issue with the poles they were carrying.
The poles, measuring about 5 metres and costing nearly Rs 2 lakh each are highly specialised gear, custom built as per the requirement of a particular athlete. The TTE ruled them “unauthorised luggage” and forced Meena and Yadav to deboard.
Meena is the national record holder in men’s pole vault. In the video, he is seen speaking about the ordeal. The two remained stranded at the Panvel station for nearly five hours while trying to explain to authorities that the poles were essential equipment for their sport, as reported by TOI.
In the video shared by sports platform NNIS, Meena is seen questioning the treatment meted out to athletes, wondering what kind of harassment junior athletes might be facing if an international-level competitor like him could be forced to get off a train at the whim of a TTE.
The duo were apparently allowed to board another train after nearly five hours, but with a strict warning that they would face the music if other passengers complained about the equipment.
Meena is from Madhya Pradesh and he broke his own record with an effort of 5.35m in the National Federation Senior Athletics Championships in April 2025.
The then 19-year-old dominated the men’s pole vault event as he bettered his earlier national mark of 5.32 m, which he had scaled while finishing on top during the Uttarakhand National Games in February.
The Asian record in the men’s pole vault is 6 m, set by Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines in 2023, while the world record stands in the name of Swedish superstar Armand Duplantis at 6.27m.
