No respect for sportsperson in Pune

Markswoman Anisa Sayyed, double gold medallist at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games (CWG), who has lived 27 of her 29 years in Pune, the city of her birth, is now bitter about the way the city has treated her.

After winning two gold medals at the CWG last year, she was felicitated and flooded with promises by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). But the promises were there only till she got media attention.

“After winning the medals, I was promised an apartment by the PMC, along with a cash prize. Even the PCMC had promised some cash prize. We don’t know the status of the prizes with the PMC yet, and when we tried to call the PCMC, we were told that because I was felicitated by the Maharashtra government, I won’t be receiving the prize now,” she says.

Anisa also has a copy of the PMC standing committee resolution (dated October 6, 2010) moved by NCP corporator Shrikant V Patil and seconded by corporator Sunil Gogale which said that “since Anisa Sayyed lives in an extremely small house, she may be provided by the PMC with a flat under DC Rule R-7 as a special case”.

Anisa makes it clear that more than being unhappy about the false promises, she is bitter about the lack of respect for sportspersons in the city. “It hurts when you go through something like this. I would love to stay in Pune and practise, but not unless I am on my own,” she says.  Although Anisa lived 27 years in Pune, she has been practising in Faridabad, Haryana, which is her husband Mubarak Husain’s native place.

She wants to return to Pune to join Gagan Narang’s Gun For Glory Academy in Balewadi. “But I will take a call only if I get sponsors. I am hopeful I will get some,” she says.

The fact that she does not have a place to stay in the city is the biggest reason for not staying in Pune. But her love for the city is such that she doesn’t mind covering some 1,500-odd km by car from Faridabad to Pune, even when it is a few days’ trip.

Every visit of hers to the city is an emotionally-charged experience. Be it showing the nooks and corners of the city to her husband or gossiping in Marathi with local friends, Anisa loves it all.

Asked about the difference between practising in Faridabad and Pune, she says, “People respect sportspersons there. I don’t feel the same here. Pune, being my hometown, has never given me what Faridabad has, in terms of respect.”