Birmingham: Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain’s personal coach Sandhya Gurung on Tuesday received her accreditation for the Commonwealth Games 2022. Lovlina on Monday took to social media to share her ordeal where she alleged that she had been going through ‘mental harassment’ due to her coaches being frequently changed. Confirming the news, an IOA official said that Sandhya Gurung on Tuesday received her accreditation for the Commonwealth Games.
The Indian boxing squad arrived at the Games Village in Birmingham on Sunday night, following a 15-day training camp in Ireland. However, Lovlina’s personal coach Sandhya Gurung was not allowed entry after she failed to produce an accreditation. Lovlina then took to Twitter and shared her plight in a long post.
The Sports Ministry and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) were quick to take note of the allegations made by Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain against the authorities for derailing her preparations for the Commonwealth Games.
Responding to Lovlina’s tweet, the IOA said in a statement that it has taken cognizance of the concern raised by team India boxer Lovlina on social media regarding her coach Sandhya Gurung’s accreditation at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“Today with great sorrow I want to reveal that harassment is going on with me. The coaches who helped me win the Olympic medal were removed which hindered my training process. One of the coaches is Sandhya Gurungji, who is a Dronacharya awardee. Both of my coaches have to plead to be included in the training camp and they are added quite late,” Lovlina Borgohain wrote on Twitter earlier.
“I have to face a lot of issues in these training camps and this causes mental harassment as well. Right now my coach Sandhya Gurungji is outside Commonwealth Village and she is not getting entry. My training process was stopped eight days ahead of the Games. My second coach has been sent back to India. In spite of requesting so much I had to face mental harassment.”
“I don’t understand how should I focus on the Games as due to this my last World Championships was also spoiled. But I don’t want to spoil my CWG because of this politics. I hope I can break this politics for my country and bring a medal as well. My preparation (for the World Championships) wasn’t that good. After the Olympics, a lot of things have changed. I had to give time to many things, fulfil commitments,” she concluded.