400m runner P Kunhumohammed and Asian Games gold medalist in 400m hurdles Joseph G Abraham needed just Rs 30,000 to attend an Olympics qualifier in Colombo. Sadly enough, no one had the funds to send them.

Imagine two of Asia's top athletes knocking on various doors to collect Rs 30,000 so that they can have a shot at qualifying for the London Olympics? Actually, drop the imagination and get a harsh welcome to reality. It is also one of those 'strange' things that you can add into your 'It happens only in India' list.

P Kunhumohammed — 400m runner and Joseph G Abraham— gold medalist at the Asian Games in 400m hurdles needed to fly to Colombo to participate in Sri Lanka's National Athletics Championship that could have culminated in Olympic qualification. They needed just Rs 30,000 to make that trip.

But they couldn't get it. It was their last chance and now it's gone. Official apathy? Of course.

"We knocked on several doors in Kerala but no one came forward. I checked my account and it had only Rs 9,000," Kunhumohammed was quoted as saying in a Times of India report.

Bureaucracy and a lack of funds have forced them to stay home as their teammates gun for glory in Britain. To top it all, Kunhumohammed needed to shave off a few milliseconds to qualify. His personal best was 46.14 seconds at the Asian GP and the qualification mark is 45.90 seconds. It was the same for Joseph Abraham, whose timing of 49.98s isn't far from the qualification target of 49.80s.

Lijo Thottan, the assistant national coach tried to get in touch with the association's officials but all he could get was the timeless excuse: "the president is out of station."

The whole situation is ridiculous especially when you see the amount of money India spent on hosting the Commonwealth Games or for that matter the largely unknown Afro-Asian Games in 2003.

A report said Rs 28,054 crores were spent on hosting the Commonwealth Games. The obvious argument is that most of that money was spent on infrastructure which indirectly affected the athletes but look at the scandal that followed.

The Afro-Asian Games, which are now almost defunct, incurred a cost 21 crores in Hyderabad. And what about Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who thought about allowing MLAs to use Rs 20 lakh from their development fund on cars?

There are numerous other instances like this. And when you consider what it means to two athletes desperate to represent their nation at the highest level, falling short of Rs 30,000, it is just heartbreaking.

The problem lies in prioritisation. Does India want to spend on hosting tournaments with the risk of a scandals breaking out immediately after? Or are we interested in sending our athletes to as many events as possible and inspire them to greater heights?

Either which way, as they watch their teammates on TV at the Olympics, Kunhumohammed and Abraham will be thinking that they just might have been there too.