Shillong, Jul 12: The Meghalaya School of Martial Arts and its founders, Donny Ranee and Anita Songthiang, were under a cloud Wednesday after they were accused of all manner of wrongs by four mothers of young karatekas under the Meghalaya State Karate-Do Federation.
The husband and wife pair were accused, among other things, of forcing young karatekas to contribute some of their state sports scholarship money to the MSKF or MSMA, failing which they would not receive further support.
The accusations were serious and prompted a rebuttal on Thursday. Lorenza Songthiang, daughter of Ranee and Anita Songthiang and a martial artist herself, led the charge, denying that there was any coercion of the athletes to part with Rs 500 of their scholarship per month. Instead, they were asked to voluntarily contribute so that the MSKF and other martial arts organisations associated to the MSMA – such as jeet kune do, kickboxing, wushu, etc – could continue to operate as funding is an ever present challenge.
The four mums had also claimed that athletes were told to pay 10% from the state government’s cash awards to their association. Those that did so were not given proper receipts and those that did not were forced out, they alleged, pinning most of the blame on Anita.
It makes sense, according to the MSMA, for the athletes to contribute to their respective associations because if these associations don’t have enough money to give athletes proper training, equipment and send them for regional, national or even international events, then they wouldn’t qualify for these scholarships or cash prizes from the government.
One of the major points raised by the mothers was concerning a karate tournament in Dehradun in May this year where a number of sub-junior karatekas were taken along as part of the Meghalaya team only to be barred from participating when they got to the venue. According to Bajoplin Kharmudai, who accompanied the team as manager, previous tournaments had clubbed sub-junior athletes in the cadet category. This Dehradun tournament was meant for cadet, junior and senior karatekas and the MSKF assumed that in this case sub-juniors would also be included in the cadet category but this wasn’t to be.
It was also alleged that Kharmudai isn’t a qualified coach and, indeed, she admitted today that she is not a karate coach but had accompanied the MSKF team as manager. However, all teams were required to have a coach in order for the karatekas to be allowed to participate and, therefore, she was given a badge designating her the Meghalaya team coach.
Lorenza and Kharmudai also addressed another allegation that a MSMA kickboxer had been issued with a fake certificate stating that he had won a silver medal at a national kickboxing championship in 2023 even though he didn’t win a single match. Kharmudai explained that there are always two types of certificates – one for merit that goes to medallists, for example, and another for participation, which goes to anyone who takes part in a tournament. This kickboxer had been issued with a participation certificate only and the accusations were thus false, Lorenza said.
As of right now, the claims and counter-claims from both sides have been confined to the media space. However, the parents had sent a letter of complaint to the Department of Sports & Youth Affairs and Meghalaya State Olympic Association, so the issue may still continue on for a while yet.
(Left to right: File photo of Donny Ranee and Lorenza Songthiang)
