Wrestler Divya Kakran, who bagged a bronze medal in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games, tweeted on Tuesday that she played for Delhi from 2011 to 2017. Kakran was responding to Aam Aadmi Party national spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj’s comment on Sunday that she had not played for Delhi and had represented Uttar Pradesh.
On Sunday, Kakran had taken to Twitter to say that she had received no help from the Delhi government though she has been living in the city for 20 years and has been training here.
In her tweet on Tuesday, Kakran said: “I played for Delhi from 2011 to 2017. Here’s the certificate from Delhi State!
If you still don’t believe this, should I upload certificates of 17 golds from Delhi State”. She uploaded a picture of a certificate from the Wrestling Federation of India from June 2019, which stated that she represented Delhi in freestyle and Greco Roman style, and the 19th Female Senior National Wrestling Championship held at Nandini Nagar, Gonda, Uttar Pradesh from October 23 to 25, 2016, in the 63-kg weight category.
On Sunday, Kakran had tweeted: “I thank the honourable Chief Minister from the bottom of my heart for congratulating me. I have been living in Delhi for the past 20 years and have been training here but till now I have not been awarded any money or received any help from the State government. It is my request that you honour me the way you honour players from Delhi who represent other States.” She was reacting to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulating her for the latest win.
In response to her tweet on Sunday, Bharadwaj had said that she has always represented Uttar Pradesh and he does not remember her having played for Delhi. He went on to post pictures of news articles which said that Kakran represents Uttar Pradesh.
In 2018, after she bagged the bronze medal in the Asian Games, Kakran had raised a similar issue and said that she did not get support while training. Kakran has won a gold medal in the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championship. In the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Kakran won the bronze in the 68-kg category.
An official Delhi government response issued on Sunday said, “The Delhi government respects all sportspersons in the country and wishes for a bright future for them. Divya Kakran plays for Uttar Pradesh at the moment. If she has played on behalf of Delhi, or has been part of any sports scheme in Delhi or has applied for any such scheme, the state government will certainly look into what she has said.”
