To put things into perspective, a pair of good quality track shoes will cost over Rs 7,000, and six to seven pairs are needed in a year, he added.

When the Mittal Champions Trust signed up Sushmita in April 2006, things had started to look bright for the athlete. Sushmita had a short training stint in the US, which was a part of her preparation for international competitions. But this is where the problem started.

According to Roy, conditions during the training camp were not acceptable. In the US, Sushmita, had undergone metabolic and muscular tests. She did conditioning training at Arizona’s Athletics Performance Institute, under the supervision of sports performance trainer Stephen Bienko. She also participated in a few meets there. The Mittal Trust may claim to have appointed the best in the business, but Roy was not satisfied with Bienko’s training.

He said: “I wasn’t happy with his training. Moreover, the Trust didn’t give us a clear picture of future training plans. For a long stint in the US, at least the name of the coach should have been disclosed.”

Despite inadequate funds, Roy wants to go ahead with their Olympic plans, “We have chalked out our programme. Hopefully by March next, Sushmita will be able to achieve the Olympics’ qualification mark of 6000 points.”

About her not-so-encouraging performance in the recent past, he said that she had gone through some rough patches. Despite a good performance she was excluded from the Doha Asian Games squad.

“That episode drained her psychologically. She also suffered from an ankle injury. But she is training hard now,” he added.