The gold medalists arrived here on Saturday to be received by the crew of a private television channels and their fans, but no SAAP officials.
The absence of officials from the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, when medal winners at the Commonwealth Games arrived back home on Saturday, spoke volumes about their dedication to promote sports and sportspersons.
Gold medalists Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa arrived here on Saturday to be received by the crew of a private television channels and their fans, but no officials. This, despite the fact that the Hyderabadi players had played a vital role in ensuring that the country harvest its best ever tally of medals to be at the second spot.
The welcome, or lack of it, was disappointing. However, the athletes' joy was certainly not going to be dampened by the shoddy treatment meted out to them by the authorities, since the boisterous fans more than made up for their absence.
Parupalli Kashyap, the bronze medallist in men's singles, and India's chief coach Pullela Gopichand, also arrived with Saina and others.
Saina, Jwala and Kashyap are from Andhra Pradesh, while Ashwini, who partnered with Jwala to win the gold in women's doubles, hails from Karnataka.
"It was a fantastic feeling. I can never forget it," said Saina on her gold medal winning performance in women's singles. The world number 3 termed the final, which saw India edge out England in the gold medals tally, as the toughest match of her career.
The crowd favourite and the toast of the country attributed her win to the support of her parents, her coach and the crowd. She warned her future opponents that she would now be preparing for the next month's Asian Games in China.
Jwala Gutta pointed out her disappointment in not only the treatment meted out to the winners, and added that the sports authority had even failed to greet her on her win.
The State government, on its part, announced cash prizes of Rs. 10 lakh, Rs. 7.5 lakh and Rs. 5 lakh to the gold, silver and bronze medal winners, respectively.
Sportspersons from the state bagged 6 golds, 8 silvers and 5 bronzes, with Gagan Narang winning 4 golds in shooting, along with Saina and Jwala for badminton. Silver medals went to Sania Mirza for tennis, Asher Noria for shooting, Ritul Chatterjee and Ch Jignas for archery.
The bronze medal winners were Abdul Najeeb and S Geetha, for the men's and women's 4x100 metres relay respectively, while lifter Srinivasa Rao bagged the other bronze.
Courtesy: INN