UP: Kabaddi players served food stored in toilet, official suspended

Saharanpur/Lucknow: Kabaddi players at a state-level tournament in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur were allegedly served food that was stored in a toilet, prompting the authorities to suspend the district sports officer for laxity and blacklisting the caterer.

The incident drew criticism, with ruling BJP's Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi asking if Indian sports should be cleansed of politicians and their representatives to reach its zenith.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too took a swipe at the incident, asking how Indian sportspersons would win gold at the Olympics if they are treated this way.

A purported video of surfaced on social media. It showed the athletes who took part in the sub-junior girls' kabaddi tournament at Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Stadium in Saharanpur being served rice and "poori" stored in 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 that Saharanpur District Sports Officer Animesh Saxena was suspended on Monday.

In a statement on Tuesday, Sehgal said, "The probe into the matter has been handed over to the district magistrate of Saharanpur. The cook and the caterer providing food to the players has been blacklisted. Instructions have been issued not to give any work to them in future."

Special adverse entry will be made against the staff who was engaged in serving food, he said.

Apart from this, instructions have been issued to all district sports officers that any type of laxity in providing facilities to players will not be tolerated, Sehgal said in the statement.