Shikhar Dhawan expresses disappointment on Kabaddi players being served food in a toilet in U.P

Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan has expressed his disappointment on Kabaddi players being served food in the toilet during a state-level tournament in U.P. He took to Twitter and asked the U.P C.M Yogi Adityanath and Department of Sports and Youth Affairs of U.P government to take notice of the issue.

Dhawan tweeted, “This is very disheartening to see Kabaddi players at State level tournament having food in toilet. Would request @myogiadityanath & @UPGovtSports to look into the same and take necessary action.”

On Tuesday, shocking videos of over 200 under-17 female kabaddi players being served food kept on the floor of a toilet went viral on social media. The players were being served food kept right next to men’s urinals in a stadium in UP’s Saharanpur. As soon as the issue came to light on social media, there was widespread anger and criticism of the government.

The video which is believed to have been shot on September 16 shows the girls collecting food – rice and vegetables – from inside a toilet. They can be seen serving themselves from large open plates and containers kept on the bathroom floor.

Shortly after images and news of the incident spread like wildfire, the UP government suspended the sports officer of Saharanpur, Animesh Saxena, and ordered an inquiry against him. The contractor, who was given responsibility for cooking the food and serving it to the players, was also blacklisted.

The viral video showed athletes who took part in the sub-junior girls’ kabaddi tournament at Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Stadium in Saharanpur. The sports department had organized the tournament at the stadium from September 16 to 18. Over 200 players from 17 teams across 16 divisions of the state took part in the competition.

“It’s the regional officials and stakeholders’ defective operations that led to this incident and the Chief Secretary (has called) for strict action against the regional sports officer…” District Magistrate Akhilesh Singh told news agency ANI action will be taken ‘in a week’.

“There was a state-level tournament in Saharanpur which received some negative reporting… Since it was a huge competition in which a lot of children participated and reports of improper arrangements have surfaced, the matter will be looked into seriously,” he added.