AFI 3

Message 3 to Athletic Federation of India

I understand that TOP Committee made the selection of athletes for TOP programme based on their past record and not based on present performances. While this by and large a logical pattern for most of the athletes who are pursuing their sport for several years, in the case of OP Jaisha this has played a spoilsport. Jaisha switched over to marathon barely 6 months back and she participated in only one marathon ie: SCMM January 2015. However, the fact remains that she broke 20 year old record on her debut which is unprecedented in the annals of athletic history. As per AFI’s confession, she has improved tremendously, but there is no record to show as she did not participate in any official marathon meet since then. Selection based on past record may prove faulty in some cases as if evident from the selection of Yuvaraj Singh in the Delhi Daredevils Team by paying an astronomical amount of Rs 16 crores which costed the franchiser Rs 8.5 lac per run. Jaisha’s timing in the debut performance cannot be taken as yardstick for her selection to TOP as there will be considerable improvement from the debut timings. Variation or improvement from the previous record may be minimal in the case of seasoned athletes who have been practicing the same for several years. I am a half marathoner and I clocked 2:44.0 on my debut and my latest timing is 2:14:43. I am sending a table showing my performance record along with full details which can be verified from the net. Therefore, it appears that an inadvertent misjudgment has been made in the case of Jaisha.