HOA accuses Hooda of discriminating among Olympians

Chandigarh, Sep 4 (UNI) The Haryana Olympic Association (HOA) today charged Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda with discriminatory attitude while awarding the Beijing Olympic stars of Haryana.

HOA president Abhey Singh Chautala said nine players from Haryana were among 56 players who qualified for the Olympics.

Five players were honoured with cash prizes, where as other four --Krishna Punia (Athletics), Divya Tomar (Judo), Devender Kumar Khandelwal (Rowing), Sanjeev Rajput (Shooting) had not been given cash awards.

Talking to reporters here today, Mr Chautala demanded cash awards for these four Olympic players from Haryana and DSP's post for quarterfinalist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt.

He also demanded DSP's posts for nine Arjun Awardee players, including Ramesh Gullia.

HOA secretary general M S Malik and HOA Director H S Bhadu were also present in the press conference.

Mr Chautala said that Mr Hooda, who was now trying to share the Olympic glory of the players, had always neglected the interests of the sportspersons of the state.

He alleged that Mr Hooda was trying to use every unfair mean to manage his family control over the duly elected sports bodies.

No financial support was given to HOA or its sports associations during the Hooda regime, he added.

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