Player rebuts charges against kabaddi coach

Pracomet

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The three year old tale of alleged misconduct by kabaddi coach J Udayakumar with a girl team member aboard a t..

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The three year old tale of alleged misconduct by kabaddi coach J Udayakumar with a girl team member aboard a train which finally led to his expulsion, has taken an unexpected turn.
Sharmi Ulahannan, the international kabaddi player with whom Udayakumar was linked, has come out with an absolute rebuttal of the entire case. Sharmi has already approached Kerala State Sports Council president Padmini Thomas saying that the allegations against Udayakumar were concocted and that the inquiry commission had never taken her statement.It was in 2008 that Udayakumar was removed from the duties of dailypaid kabaddi coach on charges of alleged misconduct with Sharmi. The inquiry commission had found, on the basis of a complaint, that Udayakumar and Sharmi had been involved in immoral affairs inside the train while returning with the kabaddi team after a tournament. Udayakumar was the coach of the national team which won Asian Games gold medal twice.

However, last week, Sharmi gave a written statement to Express saying that the case against Udayakumar was fabricated. She said that during that train journey, she had lost her purse in the train and when she suspected a few commuters, Udayakumar naturally intervened. The matter was over right there and was not pursued further. When allegations flared up against Udayakumar, Sharmi met T P Dasan, former Sports Council president, and narrated to him the whole incident. "I told him that it was just a case of theft and that all the allegations were untrue. But I was asked not to intervene in the matter and that the inquiry commission will do the rest. The commission has never sought my version,'' she said.

The letter points out the procedural irregularities and substantive infirmities in the inquiry report filed by the Sports Council.

The Sports Council, however, ruled out the request saying that Udayakumar's explanation was unsatisfactory and upheld his expulsion.