Kolkata: Commonwealth Games gold medal winner weightlifter Achinta Sheuli’s Olympic dreams suffered a serious setback after he was expelled from the Games preparatory camp. The Bengal boy was caught by security personnel reportedly scaling the walls trying to enter the women’s hostel on Thursday night at NIS Patiala. A video of the lifter’s act was also shot.
The Sports Authority of India and NIS Patiala executive director Vineet Kumar were immediately sounded off.Since there was video evidence of the incident, SAI did not constitute an investigating panel and acted fast.
“The video was sent to NIS Patiala ED Vineet Kumar and the SAI headquarters in New Delhi and Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) was asked to remove Achinta from the camp,” a SAI source said. Achinta was asked to leave the camp immediately, according an IWLF official.
The facility in Patiala has separate hostels for men and women athletes and currently women boxers, athletes and wrestlers are stationed at the NIS.
The 2022 Birmingham CWG gold medal winner with a Games record in the 73kg weight category left the camp on Friday.
Sheuli is currently placed 27th in the Olympic qualification rankings and had a chance of making the cut via the continental quota.
But following his expulsion, his chances of qualifying for the Paris Games are almost over as he will now not be travelling for this month’s IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand, which is a mandatory event for qualification.
The performance of the 22-year-old boy from Deulpur, Howrah, went downhill after the CWC show and he missed out on Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 after failing to meet the selection criteria finishing 10th at the Asian Championships in South Korea with an underwhelming 305kg lift (140kg+165kg).
He finished 25th in the World Championships, a qualifying event for the Paris Games, in Riyadh in 2023 with a modest combined lift of 285kg (130kg snatch + 155kg clean and jerk).
In 2022, Sheuli withdrew from the World Weightlifting Championships in Bogota, Colombia, the first in the series of qualifying events for the 2024 Games, after suffering from a hamstring pull just before the start of his competition.