Shooter shows fake certificate at admission trial, misses mark
A rifle shooter from Haryana was not allowed to take sports selection trials at St Stephen’s College on Thursday after doubts over the authenticity of a certificate she produced.
Signatures of sports authorities on Mrinal Sneh Singh’s certificate — of participation in the Guwahati National Games in February — were genuine, but the college detected other inconsistencies in it.
On Wednesday, Mrinal had appeared for trials at Miranda House.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) said Singh had not taken part in the Guwahati Games. Baljeet Singh Sethi, secretary-general, said: “It is strange how the girl got the certificate. The NRAI is the only body authorised to issue certificates to shooters on behalf of the National Games organising committee.”
Mrinal’s father Virender Singh said she had gone to Guwahati as an “extra”, for which the Haryana Olympic Association had given her the certificate. The NRAI said there was no provision for ‘extras’.
The certificate has the signatures of Indian Olympic Association officials Suresh Kalmadi and Randhir Singh. Kalmadi was unaware of any misuse of certificates. “It is a very serious thing if true,” he said.
Haryana Rifle Association’s Deep Bhatia said Mrinal was not among the 19 shooters from the state who went to the Games.
SK Chakravarty, sports officer, St Stephen’s, said the certificate did not have the name of Mrinal’s specific event. She hadn’t furnished her scores either.
Donno what to say about the girls pop - Man Extras in shooting
Then the paper went on to take a certificate in M K Gandhis name for a walk:
A day after the Hindustan Times exposed how certificates of participation in the National Games were being misused, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) awoke to the scandal, and set up an inquiry into the matter.
We had obtained a certificate in the name of 'Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi', representing 'Gujarat state' in the 20-km walk at the Guwahati Games in February.
"The IOA would like to make it clear that... participation and merit certificates are issued by the hosts," an IOA release said on Friday. "The issue becomes very serious if somebody can fraudulently manage to get a... certificate... without having participated."
"...The IOA will ensure... a proper record of participation certificates... (It) will (put up) a list of participants... on the (IOA) website... Mr KP Singh Deo, chairman of the Sports Commission, will conduct an inquiry into the issue."
Bharat desh mahan hai