Anita case casts shadow

Bhatia, understandably, did not want to talk about the recent Delhi High Court decision to lift the ban on Kumari, saying he is yet to receive the court orders. “We have heard that Kumari had gone to court, but haven’t received any court order so far,” he told The Indian Express over telephone from Amritsar.

Kumari — winner of three medals, including two golds, in the 58kg category at the last senior national championships — had gone to court to seek justice against what she alleged was biased attitude of the federation.

She had alleged that the federation had violated World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules while taking urine samples during the nationals. As per court orders, the IWF will also have to bear the expenses of Anita’s B sample test at a WADA-accredited lab in Malaysia.

Performance of the top lifters is another area of concern for Bhatia these days. None of the nine lifters who participated in the world meet in Chiang Mai, Thailand, recently managed to perform up to expectations. No Beijing Olympic berth was available from that meet.

The IWF also has the enormous task of training budding lifters for the Youth Commonwealth Games to be held next year in Pune. The IWF now has foreign expert Maged Salama at its disposal, but it is yet to be seen how he trains the players for the Youth Games.

Doping apart, federation is also facing financial crises. “The government owes us over Rs 20 lakh,” Bhatia had said, adding, off the field activities consume lots of time leaving less for development.