The battle between Indian Olympian marathon runner OP Jaisha and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is taking a serious turn with the passing of each minute. On Tuesday afternoon, Sports Minister Vijay Goel ordered a two-member panel to probe the incident.
Jaisha, who finished 89th in the marathon event in Olympics 2016, with a time of 2:47:19, collapsed after the end of the race and claimed that she wasn't provided any refreshment by the Indian officials, including water, during the run, thus affecting her competition as well as her health.
The AFI however hit back and said that the athlete herself refused to take course to any refreshment during the race.
With the situation going a bit out of hand now and with the developments turning negative, the Indian government appointed Onkar Kedia, Joint Secretary (Sports) and Vivek Narayan, Director (Sports), to look into the matter and submit a report on the same within seven days.
"The minister of state, youth affairs and sports, Vijay Goel, has constituted a two-member committee consisting Onkar Kedia, joint secretary (sports) and Vivek Narayan, director (sports) to inquire into the allegations of OP Jaisha," a press release from the ministry, said.
Meanwhile, Kavita Raut, Jaisha's competitor and fellow marathon runner, has mentioned that she was asked by the Indian officials a day prior to the event whether she needed any personal drink to carry with her during the race, but Kavita refused it as it was her personal choice.
However, Kavita mentioned that she didn't have any clue whether Jaisha was offered any different kind of treatment by the Indian officials.
