Kerala HC asks Centre to include Chitra in squad for World Championships

The Kerala High Court has directed the central government to ensure the participation of PU Chitra in the World Athletics Championships in London next month. 

Justice PB Suresh Kumar, in an interim order, directed the government to make all arrangements to see that Chitra participates in the event. The court also observed that the selection process for the championship appears to be not transparent and that qualified athletes were ignored. 

The case will be considered on Monday for detailed hearing. The HC on Thursday had sought an explanation from the central government on the exclusion of the Kerala athlete from the Indian squad for the Worlds. 

Hearing Chitra's petition against the decision by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), Justice Suresh Kumar had asked the Centre to inform the source of funding for international events. 

Don't blame me for Chitra's omission, I wanted her to make it: Usha

Chitra, who had recently won the gold medal in the women's 1500m event in the Asian Athletics Championships held in Bhubaneshwar, filed the writ petition after she was excluded from the Indian squad by the AFI.  In her plea, she said her gold medal performance at the Asian championships made her an automatic pick for the World Championships. 

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had backed Chitra and said that excluding the athlete, who was the "pride not only of Kerala, but also the country, from the team for World Athletics Championship, is condemnable". 

Sprint queen and former national champion PT Usha had said that Chitra had not been included in the team as she did not meet the qualifying mark set by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Usha, meanwhile, has said she will not cooperate with TV news channels in Kerala hereafter after some reports implicated her for excluding Chithra from the Indian squad.

"Such kind of harassment is unbearable for the woman in me. I wish to live a peaceful and happy life with my family. So from today onwards, I will not cooperate with the Malayalam visual media," she said in the statement.

• PU Chitra
• Kerala High Court
• PT Usha
• World Championships