The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Bobby Aloysius quits in disgust

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 16, 2004

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Sport - Athletics

Bobby Aloysius quits in disgust

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 15. Disgusted with the manner in which she has been ignored for the fourth time for the Arjuna award, high jumper Bobby Aloysius has quit the sport.

"I think this is the worst experience in my life and I am absolutely devastated by it,'' said Bobby in an e-mail message from her training base in England after hearing the news about the award winners on Wednesday. She also posted her reaction on her website:

www.bobbyaloysius.com.

Bobby was inconsolable as one talked to her over phone on Wednesday evening. "How can they do it?'' was her repeated query. "Where will I get justice? Why did I put in all these years, just to be ignored like this? When other sportspersons with not even a medal at the Asian level are being honoured, how can they ignore my achievements?"

She could not fathom the logic behind repeatedly honouring competitors in various sports when such sports had little to show at the Asian level, notably football. And she kept pointing out that the award guidelines were clear that only international level performances should be taken into consideration.

"With this decision, I have lost all my enthusiasm to do sports and I am very sorry to announce that I am just ending my athletics career as a high jumper. The decision again proves that Arjuna award is not meant to support athletes, but to demoralise them," she said.

Bobby wondered why her silver-winning performance in the Afro-Asian Games last year was not being taken into consideration at all. "I won silver recording one of my very best performances (1.88m)... unfortunately the committee feels that Afro-Asian Games was a regional or local meet."

Recommended, but...

Bobby pointed out that when she won the gold in the Asian championships in 2000, her name was recommended for the award in 2001. "Even though as many as four athletes were given the award that time, I was ignored. Among the winners that year, only K. M. Beenamol had recorded a performance better than mine."

In 2002 too, AAFI recommended her name along with two others but "none of us got the award owing to a technical argument that we did not have a performance on record for the concerned year (2001).

"There is a gold and silver in my name in Asian championships, a silver in Asian Games, three gold in SAF Games and all the National and South Asian records in high jump for nearly 10 years,'' Bobby said.

"I think the allegedly corrupt Arjuna awards system which existed earlier was better than the present dispensation. Though many undeserving names found a place in the list of honour under the earlier system, it also honoured some deserving ones," Bobby said.

"I now realise that my fate is to remain the victim of mere technicalities in the Arjuna awards system. Even though many athletes who don't deserve (the) Arjuna awards are called Arjuna awardees, I will remain just a former athlete.''

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