Not under official pressure to serve tea, says boxer Renu

“I have not been asked by my seniors to serve refreshments. We all are a family in the NIS,”  Renu said on Saturday.

A photograph published in a daily showed Renu purportedly serving tea to officials at the National Institute of Sports here.

The paper quoted Renu as saying, “I have to follow orders, even if it means serving visitors. I don’t like it one bit but I cannot afford to disobey my seniors.”

National coach GS Sandhu also sought to play safe and ruled out any such exploitation.

“It is not that there is exploitation going on here. Nothing is forced,” he said.

Renu, a bronze-medalist at the world boxing championship in 2006, was promised a job in the Railways.

When the job did not materialise, she took up a one-year coaching course at the Patiala institute, only to be found doubling up as a waitress and a cleaning lady.

Meanwhile, Rajesh Kailey, Incharge Academic Affairs said that he has nothing do with the incident as Renu was in national camp and Incharge VK Soni could brief about it.

However, Soni did not take calls on his mobile phone despite repeated attempts to contact him.

Executive Director L S Ranawat was on leave and will come next week while Rajesh Chabra, officiating executive director was not available for comments.