Jamshedpur, June 23: The glory of podium finish at the 6th Kolhan Range Police Sports Championship notwithstanding, athletes walked home humiliated.

Most of them claimed that they were honoured with cheap medals purchased in bulk from the local market. “The medals are of very poor quality and will lose shine within a few days. Was it all that our hard work was worth?” said an athlete, not willing to be named.

The sports meet was held from June 15 to 17 at the JRD Tata Sports Complex. Over 100 medals were handed over to the winners in individual and team events by senior police officers such as M.K. Mishra, the deputy inspector general (Kolhan), and four police superintendents.

East Singhbhum superintendent of police Naveen Kumar Singh said they could not spend extravagantly on medals and mementos since Rs 15,000 was the allocated budgets for the meet. “We had to spend on food and other miscellaneous items, too,” he said.

Singh criticised the athletes for blowing a petty issue out of proportion. “Actually, there were some athletes who wanted to control the affairs. They are now spreading canard since they were not allowed a say during the championship,” he said.

The athletes, on the other hand, claimed that it was not just about the medals, but the entire event was mismanaged. They said the march past on the inaugural day had no police band to lead. Instead, the proceedings saw a wedding band playing popular Hindi numbers.