Commonwealth Games 2018: Clean Sports India questions lack of accreditation for gymnastics coaches

The usual controversies do nothing but signal that a major tournament is upon us and the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast are no exception to this rule. After everything that happened with athletes complaining to the authorities, it's now Clean Sports India who has slammed the Indian Olympic Association for a lack of facilities. Clean Sports India, headed by former athlete Ashwini Nachappa has blamed the IOA for misplaced priorities as accreditation for the coaches of gymnasts Aruna Budda Reddy and Meghana Reddy did not come through. "Coaches for two young gymnasts ' Aruna Reddy and Meghana Reddy, have not been given accreditation. Accreditation allows a coach to accompany their players and gives them access to the Games Village as well as to the preparatory and competitive arenas,' the CSI release said. The release also made it a point to appeal to star badminton players who have been in the news recently for demands of accreditation for their family members insisting that the coaches should have been given more priority because of the fact that both Aruna and Meghana are medal prospects.

Also read: Commonwealth Games 2018: Indian Gymnasts yet to get a go ahead If one is to look back at the recent performance of one of these two gymnasts, Aruna Budda Reddy recently became the first Indian to win a Bronze in the Gymnastics World Cup. As for Meghana, she has been training with Greek coach Vavara Fillou which resulted in good scores during the trials for the CWG Games. 'What is beyond any comprehension is why IOA would provide accreditation to the parents of Sindhu and Saina and not the coaches of these two gymnasts, who deserve it legitimately." 'We at Clean Sports India appeal to the IOA to reconsider and provide the coaches of the two gymnasts immediately with accreditation. We appeal to Sindhu and Saina to reconsider their need to have their parents given accreditation,' the release continued. It must also be remembered that the Gymnastics contingent it themselves had to go through quite a lot of trouble to even get to Gold Coast as their visas were cleared in the last minute. The cleared team officials of the Gymnastics contingent according to the latest IOA list include veteran coach Ashok Kuma Mishra, Coach Minara Begum and Manager Makarand Joshi.