Questions arise over MP gymnast’s death:Team sent to national tournament with untrained coach; manager says, we don’t have a certified coach

The tragic death of Uzair Ali, a gymnast from MP and known as the ‘Golden Boy’, has brought the functioning of the state’s sports world and education department under question. Bhaskar’s investigation has revealed that the team of 44 children, including Uzair, who went to Kolkata to play the National Games, was sent with untrained staff by the education department. The 8 coaches who went with the team were ordinary teachers. None of them had a diploma in Gymnastics Coaching from the National Institute of Sports (NIS) Patiala. This is a one-year special course, which, along with training players, also teaches how to provide first aid to a player in case of an injury. Notably, Uzair Ali was a national gymnast. He was injured during practice at the National Games in Kolkata. He was treated for 14 days at Kolkata’s PG Hospital but could not be saved. His family alleges that as soon as they reached Kolkata, the entire staff left them to their own devices and returned to MP. When Bhaskar spoke to team manager Ramsingh Banihar about all these allegations, he dismissed all the allegations and said that the education department did not recruit certified coaches. We are ordinary teachers; we could not make the big decisions that needed to be made. Read the report
First, know what happened to Uzair
January 16, 2024. The day of the National Gymnastics Tournament held in Kolkata. Uzair Ali, the strongest contender for the gold medal from the Madhya Pradesh team, was warming up just before his match. Aman Verma was present with him as a coach. According to team manager Ramsingh Banihar, Uzair was practicing a jump on the gymnast and Aman was supporting him with his hand. Confident Uzair said, “Sir, I will do it myself.” Aman stepped back. Uzair jumped, but lost his balance in the air and fell directly on his head. That one moment ended everything. Uzair was seriously injured. Experts said – an experienced coach does not let jump alone
Can a coach leave a young player to jump alone like this? When Bhaskar asked this question to experts, on condition of anonymity, they said – An experienced and trained coach never leaves a young player alone for such a risky jump, especially when he is warming up. A trained coach knows how to understand the subtle difference between a player’s confidence and their technical ability. He would either stop Uzair immediately or tell him about the correct technique and safety measures for that jump. But unfortunately, there was no trained coach there. Untrained staff went with the team
The Madhya Pradesh team that was sent to Kolkata had a total of 10 staff members, including 8 coaches and 2 managers. The surprising thing is that none of them had a diploma in Gymnastics Coaching from the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala. This is a one-year special course that teaches how to train players. They are taught important things like immediate first aid for injuries, ways to prevent serious injuries, and safety standards during sports. Most of the staff who went with the team were teachers from private schools or some senior players who had no formal coaching experience. The selected team did not go
The decision to send this untrained team was also taken in a hurry. Actually, 10 other coaches and managers were selected for the tournament, but they all refused to go exactly 19 days before the tournament. After this, the education department somehow managed to arrange other people, whose list was released just 6 days before the tournament began. This staff neither understood the nuances of the game nor knew the team players properly. Most of them had no connection whatsoever with gymnastics coaching. The family members also allege that most of the staff members were treating this tour like a picnic and had arrived there with their family members. However, team manager Ramsingh denied this allegation. Struggled between life and death for 14 days
After the accident, Uzair was admitted to PG Medical College in Kolkata. But what happened next was even more shameful. On January 17, when Uzair’s family members reached Kolkata, the entire contingent of 8 coaches and 2 managers returned to Madhya Pradesh with the remaining 43 players. Uzair’s uncle Shakib says that they didn’t deem it necessary to stay with the child who had gone there on their trust, to bring glory to their state. He says that for 14 days we were troubled in Kolkata. Not a single official called to ask how the child was. If any member of the team had been with us, perhaps we could have shifted him to Delhi or some other big hospital for better treatment. 60-hour struggle to bring Uzair’s body
After fighting the battle of life for 14 days, Uzair lost, but the family’s struggle did not end here. The biggest challenge for them was to bring their child’s body home. Shakib says, we had never been to Kolkata. We didn’t understand what to do. Just getting the post-mortem done took 27 hours. Then how to bring the body, this was a big problem. Indigo Airlines refused, saying that they do not have arrangements to carry a body on their flight. After an relentless struggle of almost 35 hours, the family somehow managed to bring the body by flight from Kolkata to Delhi and then from there to Indore. From Indore by road, the body reached Ujjain. This entire process took more than 60 hours. Brother said – His dream was to win an Olympic medal
Uzair’s cousin, Mohammad Gulkhan, recalling him, says that his dedication to sports was to the extent of passion, that he would wake up every day at 4 AM and go to the railway’s gymnastics practice ground. After four hours of rigorous practice, he would go to school and in the evening, he would again get involved in practice. This had been his routine for the past 6 years. His talent can be gauged from the fact that the railway had selected him for training. He wanted to play in the Olympics for the country but the negligence of the system snatched this dream away forever. Officials shirking responsibility
When team manager Ramsingh Banihar was asked why they returned leaving an injured child behind, he expressed his shock, saying, “I am very sad that such an accident happened. I also had to bring the rest of the team back to Madhya Pradesh, so we came back.” When questioned about not receiving help from the administration and no team member staying behind, he could not give a satisfactory answer. Family’s demand – Case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder be registered
This incident has caused widespread outrage at the local level. Councilor representative Mujeeb Supariwala, calling it serious negligence on the part of education department officials, is demanding that a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder be registered against them. He said, Uzair was a promising child from my ward. Whenever he went out to play, he would return with a medal. This time, his dead body has arrived.