The occasion was to honour Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Sushil Kumar for winning gold in World Wrestling Championship on Sunday.
The occasion was to honour Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Sushil Kumar for winning gold in World Wrestling Championship on Sunday.
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| Sports minister MS Gill (L) tells World Wrestling champion Sushil Kumar's coach Satpal Singh to step aside during a photo session in New Delhi yesterday. |
However, sports minister MS Gill left Sushil and his Dronacharya award-winning coach Satpal Singh embarrassed.
During the photo session with Sushil, Gill started looking for the coach to stand beside them and when Satpal, an Asian games gold medallist, stepped in, Gill told him to step aside and called only Yashvir, who was the coach of the Indian team during the World Championship in Moscow.
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Obviously, the sporting fraternity did not appreciate the whole episode that took place at Gill's residence yesterday.
"A coach is like a father to an athlete," former India hockey captain and Olympian Dhanraj Pillay told MiD DAY.
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"A coach's contribution cannot be discounted. Whatever Sushil has achieved is all because of the effort of his coach," he added.
"Mahabali" Satpal has been Sushil's coach for more than 10 years and has been in the thick and thin of his career.
Commonwealth Games (2006) champion pugilist Akhil Kumar termed the incident as "insulting". "Irrespective of whether he is the coach of Sushil Kumar, Satpalji deserved all respect for his achievements.
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He has his own identity. I don't know how Mr Gill could ask him to step aside. His general knowledge about sports is also good," said Akhil.
The controversy could not have taken place had Sushil been forceful, felt Pillay. "Sushil should have been more upfront to include Satpal in the picture," said Pillay.
