PANAJI
Donald Coelho, the father cum coach of India's ace sailor Katya Coelho, has expressed disappointment after his daughter did not feature in the list of athletes selected for Asian Games 2023.
"We want to know on what grounds her name was dropped. We have written to the sports federation, Indian Olympics and the Sports Authority of India (SAI), but so far haven't received an answer," Coelho told The Goan.
He said his daughter, who has been working so hard, had even qualified in the selection trials as per the criteria laid down by the federation but she was not selected.
Katya is currently India's only Women iQFoiler and the first Indian to win an IQFoil medal at the International Windsurfing Cup in July 2022 in Pattaya, Thailand, where she bagged the silver medal.
Ironically, her name was not included in the list of 634 athletes announced by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports for this year's Asian Games which begins next month.
Donald said that his daughter had gone through all the tests for the Asian Games and came out with flying colours.
"Till August 20, her itinerary was almost confirmed, and we were waiting for SAI to release the funds to book her tickets. But on August 24, we got the shocking news that her name was dropped," he said.
He said there were 17 athletes from the Yachting Association of India and out of which, only his daughter's name was missing.
He acknowledged the Goa government's contribution for sending Katya to Europe for training.
Donald informed that he had met the Sports Minister Govind Gaude and even Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and apprised them of the selection debacle.
