Odisha’s Two Olympians Engage In War Of Words Over Sports Policy Of Govt

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s star athlete Dutee Chand on Friday dropped a bombshell by slamming the Odisha government’s sports policy, especially the huge expenditure being done in the sector, and questioning the outcome.

Former India hockey captain Dilip Tirkey came out in the government’s defence, triggering a never before Twitter war between the two Olympians from Odisha over the state’s sports policy and performance in global meets.

The war of words started after by international sprinter Chand tweeted that though the Odisha government has been spending crores of rupees for development of sports infrastructure, the state has not been able to produce sportspersons who have performed in any global event satisfactorily, ostensibly due to mismanagement by the people at the helm of of the sports affairs.

She took a dig at the government’s efforts to promote hockey team and tweeted, “You are only concentrating on Hockey India and promoting it with government funds. There is no money for other disciplines of the sports, particularly athletics. As a result, the state is unable to produce international athletes for a long time.” Dutee has been granted around Rs 4 crore by the state government for her contribution to athletics.

Dutee, who has a knack of stirring controversies, made public her observations after the Sports and Youth Services department, in a tweet, congratulated Pragyan Sahu and Susmita Tigga for winning bronze medals at Indian Grand Prix 2 in Kerala.

Responding to Dutee’s tweet, chairman of the ad hoc committee of Hockey India and former BJD MP Tirkey said it was not behoving on the part of a sportsperson to make such comments. “As a sportsperson, I highly condemn the statement and want to assert that the government has been promoting all disciplines of sports without any bias or partiality,” he said.

Stating that it is not possible for all sportspersons to win medals in the Olympics due to various factors, he said probably some sportspersons are not aware of that Bhubaneswar is going to be the sports capital of the country due the efforts of the government and prominent players in different fields.

“It’s hockey, which has earned the recognition for India in international sports. I do not expect a sportsperson to blame any discipline of the sports. They should learn to respect players of all disciplines,” said Dilip.

Following reaction from Dilip, Dutee has deleted her comment from the Twitter.