Power Cut at JLN Stadium May Cost 2 Athletes Their Rio 2016 Berth

A power cut at the JLN Stadium cost two athletes their Rio Olympics dreams, as records could not be saved.

Two sprinters from Orissa missed out on their Rio Olympic ticket as there was a power cut at the venue.

Amiya Mallick and Srabani Nanda bettered national records on Sunday at the Indian Grand Prix held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi; a performance which would have guaranteed both the players a berth at the Rio games.

Amiya Kumar Mallick was 0.07 seconds inside the Olympic men’s 100m mark while Srabani Nanda was 0.09 inside the women’s time.

The latter was timed at 10.09 seconds, breaking the national record by 0.21 seconds and surpassing the Olympic qualification mark of 10.16 seconds while Nanda, 24, won the women’s sprint in 11.23 seconds, breaking the 16-year-old national record by 0.15 seconds.

But hopes were shattered when due to the lack of electricity, results were recorded manually and could not be counted for the Olympics, or rather for any official purposes.

According to reports, the generators installed could not be used as there was no staff to operate them as it was a Sunday.

The Delhi Athletics Association blamed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and stadium administration for the fiasco.

The athletes, however, have another opportunity to qualify for this summer’s Olympics in Rio at the Federation Cup, which will be held at the same venue from 28-30 April.

This isn’t the first time that such a situation was faced at the JLN Stadium. Last year, during an Indian Super League match between Delhi Dynamos and NorthEast United, the stadium partially lost electricity and the match had to be played with just half the floodlights available.