Two weeks after the Dronacharya awards were presented by the president in New Delhi, controversies related to the honour refuse to die down.
Former Karnataka Athletics Association secretary Satyanarayana was among those recommended for the award, as coach of Paralympic medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu. But his name was rejected by the Sports Ministry, which pointed to a case pending against him.
On Monday, high jump coach G K Mohan, came out with claims that he was the real coach of Mariyappan and Satyanarayana did not train the medallist.
In a letter to Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Mohan claimed that he was responsible for turning Mariyappan into a champion performer who went on to win the high jump (T42) gold in the Rio 2016 Paralympics. He also attached photographs of himself and Mariyappan together.
Satyanarayana, however, refuted the claims. “Anyone can claim anything, that doesn’t make it true,” he said.
On the photographs, Satyanarayana said: “Anyone can pose for a photo with anyone. I can take a picture standing next to Amitabh Bachhan. That does not make me his friend.” Mariyappan also stressed that Satya was his coach.