Outgoing Sports Authority of India (SAI) Director General Jiji Thomson considers his efforts for the rehabilitation of women athletes Santhi Soundarajan and Dutee Chand as the high point of his controversy-filled two-year tenure.
The tenure of Thomson, who is set to take over as Kerala Chief Secretary later this month, was an eventful one as he took on the top brass of Indian Olympic Association on the selection of Indian contingent for the 2014 Asian Games, transfered coaches en masse and took action against his own officers among others.
But an unruffled Thomson said he had to take those decisions for the good of India sport which he said needed a complete restructuring.
"I would count the rehabilitation of Soundarajan and fighting for the cause of Dutee as the high point of my tenure. We allowed Soundarajan to take coaching diploma in Bangalore and now she is employed by us," Thomson told PTI in an interview.
"As for Dutee, we bore the legal cost of her appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sports against the IAAF policy on hyperandrogenism. We thought it was injustice to her and her dignity as a woman. Nowhere in the world, a government sports body has taken up this kind of issue for a sportsperson," he said.
Soundarajan was stripped of the 800m silver medal she won in the 2006 Doha Asian Games after she failed a "gender test". The Tamil Nadu runner slipped into oblivion after that and there were reports of her attempting suicide and working as a daily wage labourer.
Dutee was banned from taking part in any competition under IAAF's hyperandrogenism policy, which bars female athletes having higher level of male hormones from competing. She appealed against the IAAF policy at the CAS which recently allowed her to take part in national events pending a final decision.
