‘No bilateral ties with Pakistan’

NEW DELHI: The newly-elected president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Narinder Batra has categorically said there will be no bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan.

“The question (of playing Pakistan) doesn’t arise until and unless the political relations improve. Currently the situation is bad,” Batra said during his first media interaction after being elected IOA chief. Batra, president of the international hockey federation said, “International commitments are different, but sporting ties between the two nations can’t take place. The environment has to be healthy first. Otherwise not.”

It may be recalled that when Bhubaneswar hosted the Asian Athletics Championship in July this year, Pakistan had sent a strong contingent. On whether Pakistan will be invited for big international events in future, Batra said, “If there is an international event on Indian soil and Pakistan is one of the nations, we have to go by protocol,” he added.

Batra said the IOA’S priority would be to improve India’s medals tally in major international events including the Olympic Games. India had won six medals in the 2012 London Olympics, but the tally came down to just two at the Rio Games.

On IOA’S strained relations with the government he said, “There is a line, the government has to respect the autonomy of the national Olympic committee,” he said, adding he was hopeful the relation would improve. “We have plans to bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, followed

by the Asian Games and the 2032 Olympic Games. India will be organising the Asian Beach Games in 2020.” India have not bid for a multi-discipline since 2010 Commonwealth Games.