KOLKATA --- SSP Chawrasia has said he will think twice before representing India at the Olympics again after his experience at the Rio Games this year, where Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officials treated golfers as if they were "servants". He also said the IOA and the sports ministry were yet to pay him and fellow golfer Anirban Lahiri the full amount of Rs 30 lakh that was promised as preparatory money for the Olympics.
About his time in Rio, Chawrasia said: "There were no proper arrangements, right from vehicle arrangement. It was freezing cold and kept raining and they [IOA officials] did not even arrange an umbrella or raincoat for us. They would behave as if they were the maalik (owners) and we were their naukars (servants)."
He said the golfers were asked to wait at the airport for four hours for a vehicle and "Lahiri came on his own". "We were feeling so bad," he said. "Now we will think twice before representing India at the Olympics. We don't like to keep on harping on this subject as we want to concentrate on the tougher assignments ahead."
A couple of months ago, Lahiri too had complained about having to take a taxi from the airport to the Games village in Rio and how the golfers were denied any support staff outside of their respective caddies.
Chawrasia said he had managed to get Rs 5.5 lakh of the amount promised to him. But Lahiri, a winner of 16 titles around the world, had not been paid at all despite all the paperwork that was done.
"I have the letter where they promised to reimburse up to Rs 30 lakh," said Chawrasia, who won the Hero Indian Open and Resorts World Manila Masters this year. "But post-Rio we're told that the amount is reduced to Rs 15 lakh."
He said the sports ministry had in a written communication promised the money towards their expenses incurred in Rio and also for the coaching camps they attended in the build-up to the Olympics.
"Lahiri has not got anything yet and was told that he has missed the deadline to submit the papers," Chawrasia said. "It's only because of a friend of mine, who made the rounds of the office in Delhi for several days to submit the bills, that I could get Rs 5.5 lakh."
But a few days ago Chawrasia received an e-mail from the ministry asking him to submit the details again. "I hope it's sorted now," he said.