The death of Vishwa Deenadayalan, an 18-year-old athlete, on the road from Guwahati to Shillong on April 17, stunned the sports world.
Digital Desk: It's been more than a month since their son, national-ranked TT player Vishwa Deenadayalan, died in a road accident on his way to Shillong for an inter-state tournament.
As per reports, Vishwa's parents are still waiting for a response from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) regarding insurance coverage under the Government's flagship Khelo India initiative, which aims to "establish India as a great sporting nation."
The 18-year-death old's on the highway between Guwahati and Shillong on April 17 stunned the athletic world, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur to express their sympathies.
Vishwa's father, Deenadayalan, said that he has been waiting for a response from the Sports Ministry and the SAI on the matter of insurance coverage for over three weeks.
"We had high expectations for Vishwa. He insisted on qualifying for the World Championships this year. Until I saw him play in the Olympics, I used to pray to God to keep me alive. But he's no longer with us. "We've lost everything," the father remarked, his voice breaking from grief.
Deenadayalan, 58, is unemployed after losing his work in the HR department of a multinational corporation in Chennai in 2020. Anuradha, his wife, looks after their apartment in the city. "We made a living with my savings," he explained.
When contacted by The Indian Express, SAI stated Vishwa was not covered by its guidelines because he was "not a trainee at a National Centre of Excellence or Khelo India recognised academy in the previous cycle(June 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022)."
The Tamil Nadu player was a national junior and sub-junior champion and a member of the senior India team. As a rising star, he used to train in the Krishnaswamy TT club in Chennai, a non-accredited facility.
Despite SAI's statement to the press, a document on the Khelo India website makes no distinction between accredited and non-certified institutes. The authority specifies the allowance allocated under the subhead "Funding to Khelo India Athlete (KIA) taught in non-accredited schools" with this paragraph at the end: "They will also be given the benefit of the insurance claim."
Deenadayalan said he "saw the document saying all Khelo India athletes were insured" and "read in publications" about it, and all he wants is for the Government to "look at the situation sympathetically" because his son was "on national service" at the time of the disaster.
"My kid was involved in an accident while representing Tamil Nadu in the Senior National Table Tennis Championship. He was clearly on national duty and not on a personal excursion, evidenced by his attire. Because the athletes are national assets, the Government should view the matter compassionately and give the Rs 25 lakh coverage that all Khelo India athletes receive," he said.
"In the insurance cycle from June 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022, Khelo India athletes in SAI National Centres of Excellence and Khelo India recognised centres were insured, centrally," SAI said asked about the norms displayed on its website. Athletes who trained at a non-accredited academy were eligible for insurance claim reimbursement if they handled their insurance."
Vishwa's father claims that he was unaware of the policy. "We should have been told if this was the case, and we would have taken private insurance and submitted the proper documentation," he added.
In 2018, the Khelo India (KI) programme was created to grow sports at the grassroots level. In addition to other benefits, promising players who the KI committee shortlists are given a financial aid of 5 lakh every year.
In a statement, SAI stated that it would assist the family. "SAI has suggested the family seek a one-time grant from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports under the Deendayal Upadhyaya fund," it stated. An athlete is eligible for Rs 5 lakh from this fund.
According to Vishwa's father, there has been no written communication from SAI.
Vishwa was driving from Guwahati to Shillong with three teammates for the competition when a truck smashed through the divider and into their car on April 17.
The North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences declared Vishwa "brought dead." R Santosh Kumar, S Abinash Prasannaji, and D Kishore Kumar, his teammates, were injured in the accident.
Also Read: The sudden demise of Tamil Nadu TT player D Vishwa leaves the nation in Shock
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