HT Digital
ITANAGAR, JUNE 6: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has raised serious concern over the omission of three-time national record holder Sambo Lapung from India’s weightlifting trials for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, citing regional discrimination in the choice.
Sambo Lapung, a top player in the weightlifting 94kg category, has consistently performed better than his opponents at the national level. He won gold medals at the senior national championships in Chandigarh (2022), Itanagar (2023), and Himachal Pradesh (2024). Such achievements notwithstanding, the Indian Weightlifting Federation decided to overlook him for the trials of the Commonwealth Games.
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Rather, Haryana’s Harshit Sehrawat was chosen, mainly for his silver-medal effort in the Inter-India Railways Championships, where he lifted a total of 335kg. The union pointed out that Lapung had a better record, with a gold-medal lift of 338kg in the 2023 national championships in Itanagar, in which Sehrawat could do only 328kg and earned silver.
In their formal presentation to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, AAPSU averred, “Mr Sambo Lapung has been outperforming Mr Sehrawat consistently in straight competitions. This is not a one-off case but a trend where Mr Lapung has fairly established superior performance.”
The union, which is headed by President Dozi Tana Tara and General Secretary Ritum Tali, feels the incident is an indication of a larger issue of transparency and potential institutional bias among Indian sports selection committees. They emphasized that selections must be purely merit-based and not reliant on regional or institutional loyalties.
AAPSU, as the indigenous tribal populations of Arunachal Pradesh, has made the official request for government intervention to reconsider the choice. The union cautioned that such exclusions not only demoralise committed Northeast athletes but also compromise the integrity and merit of national sports institutions.
In a June 5 letter, the union stated, “The unfair exclusion of Mr Lapung, despite his consistent national-level performances, demoralizes athletes from the Northeast and casts doubts over transparency and fairness in the selection process.”
