The time of darkness as the Cycling Federation of India faces backlash because one India’s best female cyclists accused national coach R K Sharma of sexual harassment, which led to his resignation. Former star racer Deborah Herold has come out in support of the accusation.
- Deborah Herold, the reigning national champion and international gold medalist, claimed that her former coach, R K Sharma, mentally tortured her and smacked her twice.
- Deborah Herald’s accusation of sexual and mental harassment against R K Sharma resulted in his expulsion from his position.
Deborah Herold, the present national championship winner and international gold medalist from the Andaman Islands, told the Press in an interview that she was dismissed from the national squad because Sharma’s assistant Gautamani Devi “felt” she was in a relationship with some other female cyclist.
“Gautamani Devi thought I was in a relationship with another female cyclist, and harassed me a lot. She taunted, ignored and isolated me from the rest of the cyclists. Eventually, I was removed from the national camp. In truth, there was nothing like it… we are just good friends,” Deborah mentioned this in the interview with the press.
It isn’t just Deborah who has levelled new charges against Sharma. Two country’s current teammates told the press as well that Sharma and Devi “threatened and harassed” them “constantly for years,” impacting their productivity, and that they have informed the Sports Authority of India’s Internal Complaints Committee, that is going to hear the sexual harassment allegations against Sharma.
When asked about the claims, Devi informed the press that she had just followed the Cycling Federation of India’s (CFI) instructions. The CFI (Cycling Federation of India) stated that Herold had never previously made any allegations against Sharma or Devi and that the federation operates “in line with its constitution and the law of the nation.” Sharma did not reply to calls for comment from The Indian Express.
Herold, who has been with India since 2012 and has trained under Sharma since 2014, claims she has been left out of the squad since 2018, despite being the country’s top cyclist in the 200m sprint and 500m time trial races in the national championships since 2019.
“She assumed I was dating another female cyclist and that bothered me a lot.” She mocked, disregarded, and separated me from the other cyclists. I was ultimately evacuated from the national camp. In reality, there was nothing like it… we’re simply close friends,” she explained.
Devi was “shocked” to acknowledge the occurrences mentioned in a complaint filed with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) by a top cyclist who claimed Sharma pressured her to remain in his space, decided to provide her with a “post-training massage,” “forcefully” attempted to draw her towards him, and started asking her to “sleep with him” during a training camp in Slovenia in May.
According to Deborah, the “toxic environment” in the squad under Sharma “did not allow our cyclists to perform to their potential.”
Herold claims she was picked out practically every day and told to remain apart from several other cyclists. “The assistant coach and the head coach emotionally tortured us.” It had such an impact on me that I began to lose weight since I couldn’t eat properly… If I chatted with any teammate, male or female, I was called up. I would get yelled at if I bumped into someone in the dining room. It got to the point that I started dining (alone) in my hostel room on certain days. “I was picked out and tormented for no reason,” she explained.
Deborah Herold expects that similar situations never occur again in the field of sports and feels that there must be a shift in coaching culture to protect players’ futures.
