Athletes served food stored in toilet in UP, sports officer suspended

Athletes at a state-level kabaddi tournament here were allegedly served food that was stored in a toilet, following which the district sports officer was suspended for laxity, according to officials.

A purported video of the September 16 incident, which went viral on social media, showed the athletes who took part in the sub-junior girls’ kabaddi tournament at the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Stadium being served rice and poori that had been stored in the toilet.

The tournament was hosted from September 16 to 18 in which over 300 players from 16 divisions of the state took part.

Additional Chief Secretary (Sports) Navneet Sehgal told PTI that Saharanpur District Sports Officer Animesh Saxena was suspended on Monday.

District Magistrate Akhilesh Singh said Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Rajnish Kumar Mishra would conduct a probe and submit a report in three days.

Singh said, “The rice and pooris were kept in a toilet. The video, which went viral on social media, showed the players taking the food kept inside the toilet.”

He added that it had also come to the administration’s notice that the food was cooked in the swimming pool premises and only two cooks were engaged to prepare food for over 300 people.

The food that was prepared was then stored inside the toilet, he added.

The pooris were spread on a piece of paper, while the rice was half-cooked. The players could not even get adequate food, the district magistrate said.

Singh has directed the probe team to speak to the athletes, get the video clip and submit a report.

“The district sports officer did not inform the administration about the state-level tournament. If the administration had been informed, it would have given special attention to the competition,” he added.