Shillong, Jul 11: Parents of young karatekas under the Meghalaya State Karate-Do Federation have made serious accusations against martial arts administrators Donny Ranee and his wife Anita Songthiang, claiming that the MSKF has sought to appropriate a percentage of award money and scholarships that the state government allocates to athletes.
Addressing a press conference at the Shillong Press Club here yesterday, four mums – Jesica Blah, Sylvia Dkhar, K Nongkhlaw and B Kharbithai – of karatekas explained how their children were put through psychological stress by the MSKF officials.
One particular alleged incident saw children sent by the MSKF to a national tournament in Dehradun in May this year. Despite the tournament not featuring a sub-junior category the mothers say that Ranee insisted that sub-junior karatekas could take part. Parents wasted money to pay for travel, stay and food for their children, they said, and some parents also accompanied their children. When they reached Dehradun and tried to contact Ranee, he ignored their calls. Apart from that, “he (Ranee) sent an unqualified coach who knows nothing about karate,” the parents said in a letter of complaint that they have sent to the Director and Assistant Director of Sports & Youth Affairs and the Working President and General Secretary of the Meghalaya State Olympic Association.
It was also alleged that junior karatekas were promised two bouts and were instructed to pay Rs 16,500 to Ranee but they were told on reaching Dehradun that only one bout had been paid for. No money was returned by Ranee, it is claimed.
The parents also alleged that apart from monthly coaching fees of Rs 500 per month (which isn’t part of the complaint), they were told to pay 10% from the state government’s cash award and Rs 500 per month from state athlete scholarships to the association.
Some parents indeed handed over Rs 10,000 each as 10% of the cash award but were not given a receipt by Songthiang, who allegedly chased away those who didn’t pay up and threatened to stop signing off on their applications for the cash award and scholarship, a crucial step before the government sanctions the money.
The complaint also states that Songthiang had taken all the original certificates from karatekas that they had received through taking part in various tournaments. Ostensibly this was so that she could pursue the award and scholarship for eligible youngsters. However, the parents allege that she has held on to some of the certificates or claims that they have been misplaced, which could hurt their children’s futures as the certificates could be used in job applications, etc.
A last allegation centred on a supposedly fake achievement. The complainants accused Ranee or Songthiang (it was not clear who exactly) of issuing a counterfeit certificate to one of their kickboxers, stating that he had won a silver medal at a national kickboxing championship in 2023 even though he didn’t win a single match.
The parents said that they have “so many other grievances” but those will have to wait for another time.
These allegations are explosive but remain just one side of the story; the MSOA is said to want to convene a meeting as soon as possible on this issue. TSR would also like to hear from Ranee and Songthiang (we have the phone number of the former but couldn’t get through to him last night) and get their points of view. (These were provided via their daughter on 11th July.)
Both are somewhat prominent in the local sports scene. As mentioned earlier, Songthiang represented India in arm wrestling and was even awarded the Kiang Nangbah Award for sports in 2002. Ranee is involved in all manner of martial arts, like karate, kickboxing and wushu, to name just three, and is an Executive Member of the MSOA.
(Meghalaya State Karate-Do Federation file photo)
