World No. 5 and Asian Games medal-winning para shuttler, Sukant Kadam awaits nine months salary as Taluka Sports Officer even after attending national camps and winning international medals; Maharashtra athlete also denied Class One job due to him.
INDIA's world champion No. 5 para-badminton Sukant Kadam is an Indian Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) sports authority. Kadam, 27, a Taluka Sports Officer (TSO) in the Sangli district of Maharashtra for the past two years, has been struggling financially, however. He has been waiting for his paycheck for a nine-month period during which he attended National Camps and played international tournaments (between April and December last year).
Knee issue Kadam, who sustained a serious left knee injury while playing tennis-ball cricket at the age of 10, was studying to become a mechanical engineer. Under the guidance of Pune-based coach and Olympian Nikhil Kanetkar, he developed an interest in badminton.
Kadam is ranked in para badminton's SL4 injury group, began winning gold at the IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports) World Games in Sharjah in February last year. He then won bronze in March at the Turkish Para-Badminton International in Antalya. He won bronze at Dubai International in April and a silver in Uganda followed.
He clinched a bronze at Canada International the next month, and then another third-place medal at Irish International in June. And although he earned medals overseas, he did not get his salary back home. "In 2019, I got my salary for the first three months until March but later, while abroad, I was not paid from April to December. During that period, I was also in the National Camp training for my Tokyo Paralympic qualification. I then met with State Sports Minister Vinod Tawde to help get my duties," Kadam told Sangli midday. Also one can calculate their salary by using this salary calculator.
Interestingly, as a bronze medalist at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia, Kadam is eligible for a Class One officer [in the rank of Deputy Collector] role, but he continues to hold a Class Two TSO position at the 2016 Asian Para-Badminton Championship in China, despite coming close to the state authorities.
"As per the regulations of the state government, a bronze medalist is eligible for a Class One job at the Asian Para Games or Paralympics. So, when I won the bronze in Indonesia in 2018, I applied for Deputy Collector's Class One post. But, for the last two years, I have been following up with the authorities but without success.
Nevertheless, sports minister Kedar feigned ignorance about Kadam 's case when asked. "He didn't write anything to me .nothing at all. He didn't even meet me. I just try to fix these problems immediately and never keep any things pending. If he's a Taluka Sports Officer, his [pending] compensation issue should be resolved at District Sports Officer or Deputy Sports Level Director," Kedar said.
Nevertheless, Kadam showed us photographs with Kedar, and also the minister 's signed note. Sukant Could Win An Olympic Medal, Nikhil Kanetkar says, coachNikhil Kanetkar, coach of Sukant Kadam, claims his ward is strong enough to win an Olympic medal at next year's Tokyo Paralympics. Kadam had a rough workout earlier this year, training for the 2020 Games qualification tournament to be held in Spain from March 9, before the shutdown caused by Coronavirus halted sports around the world.
"Sukant is World No. 5 and will enter the Olympic qualifying tournaments with the mentality of winning it. He certainly stands a strong chance of winning a medal in Tokyo because he's earned so much international success," said Kanetkar, who represented the country at the 2004 Athens Olympics.