Aldrin row: You can't finish 6th in inter-state meet and expect to board a plane to world c'ships, says AFI president

While long-jumper Jeswin Aldrin failed to make the cut in both teams, high jumper Tejaswin Shankar missed the bus for CWG despite meeting the qualifying marks.

The athletics squads for the Commonwealth Games and World Championships have courted controversy. More than the Athletics Federation of India's (AFI) selection, it is the omissions that grabbed the limelight.

Jeswin Aldrin (Instagram)

While long-jumper Jeswin Aldrin failed to make the cut in both teams, high jumper Tejaswin Shankar missed the bus for CWG despite meeting the qualifying marks. Shankar moved Delhi High Court against the federation following which he was included in the squad, subject to Indian Olympic Association allocating more quotas. On Friday, AFI gave Aldrin an opportunity to prove his form and fitness in a selection trial in Patiala on July 4.

AFI president Adille Sumariwalla explains the twin omissions and insists Aldrin not training at the national camp is not a reason for his ouster. "AFI doesn't hold a grudge against any athlete, we are here to support them," he says.

Excerpts:

What's the rationale behind inviting Jeswin for a trial after the selection committee didn't pick him just 24 hours earlier?

We want to be fair to every athlete. Jeswin Aldrin wrote to us and spoke to us yesterday after we had picked the team. He insisted he is fit and fine to compete in world championships. He also sent us 3-4 videos of him training as well as competing at the inter-state meet. Since he was so driven and so confident, we thought it is only fair to give him another chance. He will have to jump around 8.10m in the presence of the chief coach, observers, NADA officials, and selectors. we think 8.10m is enough for us to gauge his fitness and form.

Jeswin has the longest recorded jump (wind-aided) by an Indian. He comfortably met the world championships qualifying mark in April. Why was he not picked to begin with?

His recent form has shown a consistent dip. You can't be finishing sixth in a domestic event and expect to board a plane to world championships. So, the decision was rather simple for us. His jumps were quite ordinary in Europe too. He met the qualifying mark two months back. He finished outside the top three at Inter-State in June. Remember what happened with Murali Sreeshankar ahead of the Olympics? We sent him to Tokyo despite him not jumping anywhere near his best, and he couldn't do well. The stigma of a bad Olympic performance will stay with him. We don't want that to happen to our athletes.

Is there any clarity on Jeswin's ankle injury that the chief coach had alluded to on Thursday?

Jeswin doesn't train with us, so we don't know for sure. Mr. Nair (chief coach) was informed by someone that Jeswin may be carrying an injury, but we never got any medical report. But, in his communication with us on Thursday (June 30), he assured us he is completely fit and ready to compete.

Jeswin was in New Delhi on Thursday for his visa appointment. Why was he called for an interview if he was being left out?

Those are two completely different things. Visa interview is a completely different process. The selection committee met at 5 PM while his interview happened in the morning. The athletes were divided into three batches, and he could have been in any group. The date and time for the interview were decided by the US embassy, not us.

There is a school of thought that believes that Jeswin was not picked because he doesn't train in the national camp.

That's not true. AFI doesn't hold a grudge against any athlete. We have been very open about training. Any athlete who competes in the individual events is free to train anywhere he or she feels best. If you feel you have a better coach or better facilities elsewhere, you are free to train outside as long as you continue to be on the NADA watchlist. We are here to support our athletes, not discourage them.

AFI's last two selections —CWG and world championships — have been mired in controversy over certain omissions. Could it have been handled differently?

There's no controversy as far as I am concerned. We are not here for controversies, but if the media wants to play selector, what can I do? The selection committee is full of athletics stalwarts, do you think they will pick a weak squad? It is fashionable to slam AFI, but a lot of thought goes into what we do.

But Tejaswin Shankar did meet the CWG qualifying mark...

He did, but that was his only high jump this season. He has been doing decathlon in the US, so how do we judge him? Do we judge him on one jump in the whole year? Marathon runners Srinu Bugatha and Anish Thapa also met the CWG qualifying marks; in fact, they timed two minutes less than the mark (2:18:40), which roughly amounts to 800 metres. Compare that to Tejaswin, who only met the qualifying mark. There's no way the selection committee could have picked him on performance.

Have you received any communication from IOA regarding increasing quota places for CWG?

We are in regular touch with IOA, but so far there has been no positive answer on this front. We had written to IOA in October itself asking for 42 quota places, but nothing happened. I am hopeful that IOA will see reason in our demand now.