Volga Archery Academy founder and well-known coach Cherukuri Satyanarayana launched an indefinite hunger strike in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday refuting allegations by Arjuna Awardee and international archer V Jyothi Surekha.
Satyanarayana and his wife sat in front of the tomb of his son late archer and coach Lenin in Gunadala, who was killed in a road accident soon after the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Jyothi Surekha on Saturday had alleged that the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) diverted a cash award, that she was promised by the state government after she won the Arjuna award.
Stating that Rs 15 lakh from the Rs 1 crore promised to her, was deducted to Cherukuri Satyanarayana for 'coaching', Surekha said, "He is not my coach and he never was."
‘’I am unaware of the government’s order giving me a share in the cash incentive announced for Jyothi Surekha. The government might have considered me a nominee in the absence of my late son Lenin. I never wrote any letter to the SAAP for a share in the cash incentive announced to the archer. Surekha has betrayed the master. Surekha along with her father is resorting to mud-slinging in her haste to get hold of 500 sq.yard house plot in Vijayawada and Group-I post announced by the government,” Satyanarayana alleged, while speaking to reporters.
He also demanded an apology from the daughter-father duo.
On Tuesday evening, the police shifted Satyanarayana to the new Government General Hospital, to avoid any untoward incidents.
Speaking to reporters in Vijayawada earlier this week, Surekha said, "On August 31, 2017, I met Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who announced a cash prize of Rs 1 crore, house site in Vijayawada and Group-I posting. Several government officials were present."
"Right from my childhood, I trained under J Rama Rao and since 2013, I was in the Indian camp under the training of Jeevan Jyoti Singh Teja," Surekha explained.
“In 2012, I played a championship in the USA with financial support from the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA). From that time, I have won medals in various national and international fixtures. How can the SAAP officials deduct the cash incentive announced by the Chief Minister without any prior intimation?” she asked.
Surekha's father, V Surendra, alleged that SAAP officials had struck a deal with Cherukuri Satyanarayana and said that they would launch a hunger strike if justice was not meted out to them.
As the issue broke out, officials of the state government met with Surekha and her father and issued a fresh Government Order (GO) to ensure that she got the entire amount of Rs 1 crore that was announced.