Rejecting allegations of conflict of interest against Sushil Kumar, the Sports Ministry today defended the star grappler's appointment as a national observer for wrestling. Sushil, India's lone double Olympic medallist, was among 14 Olympians appointed by the Sports Minister as national observers for their respective disciplines earlier this year. Goel redefined the role of those eminent sportspersons, who were appointed by the Ministry as national observers for the first time for the development of sports. "All these national observers have been performing their duties as per the guidelines and role assigned to them by the Ministry," Goel stated in a release. Besides, the national observers are also supposed to maintain a database on the performance profile of individual athletes as well as coaches.

Source: dna June 29, 2017 12:56 UTC