World University Games: Seema and Devyaniba ‘did not start’ due to negligence

An Indian contingent of over 300 is at the World University Games in the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany, but now reports of administrative lapses by Indian officials is gradually emerging from the games.

On Tuesday, India had a no-show in the women’s 10,000m and 400m as long-distance runner Seema along with two others and sprinter Devyaniba Zala’s names went missing from the startlist due to an official error.

Names missing from final lineup

Seema, a silver medalist at the Federation Cup, was seen as a strong medal contender. Her season-best of 32:14.66s was the fourth fastest among the 28 athletes competing in the event.

Apart from Seema, Anjali Devi and Nirmala’s names were also registered for the event, screengrabs of which are in possession of The Bridge.

Meanwhile, Devyaniba’s name did initially appear on the official start list but by the time she reached the venue, it was missing from the final lineup. Devyaniba is a national games bronze medallist.

Seema reached out to The Bridge on Monday: “I have entries in 10,000m and 5,000m. And my 10,000m event was today and the start list came yesterday night and I saw my name was not mentioned in the start list. I came to know that our officials messed up everything and mistakenly excluded my and my fellow Indian athletes' names from the 10,000m race.”

“All this happened due to their negligence. Today (Monday) at the 1pm afternoon meeting held by the games committee they rejected our demand to add us in the event. I am in the top 3 positions in 10,000m event stats. As per our best and season best timings, as per entry list. It’s so sad that my team and I lost a medal chance,” Seema said in her text.

Similarly, Devyaniba took to social media to express her plight, saying, “A fees of Rs 2.5 lakh to represent my country and I miss out from getting an entry at the final moment. How disheartening should I feel as an athlete?”

“I Humbly request the authorities to get me justice and resolve my issue. Heartbroken and Injustice at my very first international competition. My 400m individual entry has gone missing because of the late alteration by the officials in submitting the confirmation list. Although the first information came from KIIT University Bhubaneshwar that I have been selected for 400m for FISU WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES RHINE-RUHR GERMANY 2025,” she wrote.

The sudden omission left Devyaniba ineligible to compete in her debut international university-level competitions.

'Major impact on my life'

Devyaniba wrote that non-participation has severely impacted her.

“I have been preparing for this event for over a year and was in a good shape to clock a PB and to make it to the 400m final and do something Special. But until the start list for Day-1 came out last evening where my name in the entry went missing from the 400m women list. While the women who have a PB of 1:01.00sec gets to compete here and I hold a PB of 53.17seconds and my name isn't there in the start list,” Devyaniba pointed.

“And the Official of the team tells me that the date and time for submission is over and we are trying. But when it is a global competition, how can a world committee accept an entry which is scribbled and written from a Pen. It might be very casual for the officials but not to me being an athlete or any other athlete who has missed the entry this way at the Global competition. IS THIS MISTAKE A SILLY ONE? Definitely Not! It has a Major impact on my life and my sporting career ahead where it really takes a lot of sacrifice, courage and passion to be here. WHO IS TO BE BLAMED?” she questioned.

The Bridge has attempted to contact the Joint Secretary of AIU, Baljit Singh Sekhon, who is heading the Indian contingent in Germany, but all outreaches via email, phone and text messages have gone unanswered at the time of publishing this.

A similar incident was brought to light by Indian shuttler Alisha Khan, who along with five other players was denied participation in mixed team event, due to an reported administrative blunder. The Indian badminton team, however, went on to win their first-ever bronze in the sport at the games.

Each participating athlete from the country had paid Rs 2.5 lakh to cover for travel, accommodation and registration. And now, a string of administrative lapse are seemingly impacting athletes who harbour sincere ambitions of representing India on the international stage.