Golf body risks ban for ignoring sports code

NEWDELHI: Ever since the National Sports Development Code came into effect on January 31, 2011, the Indian Golf Union (IGU) has been in violation. Unless it acts fast, golfers could miss out on the Asian Games at Jakarta in August 2018 as the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has threatened to derecognise it. Trouble was brewing for a while as several reminders from the sports ministry to amend the rules had gone unheeded.

Even the letter on February 23, 2017 — addressed to the president and secretary-general of the IOA and presidents and secretary-generals of all sports federations (NSFs) — calling for a compliance report within a month, too went unanswered by the IGU.

Perhaps, it was this resistance to change that led IOA secretarygeneral, Rajeev Mehta, to write to the IGU president, Wg Cdr Satish Aparajit (retd), on September 6, 2017 to “amend the constitution in consonance with the basic guidelines followed by NSFs affiliated to IOA before conducting the next AGM”. The IGU AGM and elections, slated for October 17, when the new president was to take charge, have been postponed to November.

But even then time is short for the rules to be amended. Asked during the press conference of the Women’s Indian Open last week, Aparajit refused to comment but confirmed that “IGU was committed to amending the rules”.

Contacted by Hindustan Times on Monday, Mehta said he was “out of town and could comment only after going through the file”.

If the IOA does derecognise the IGU, it will set in motion a chain reaction. The sports ministry could well follow suit, jeopardising golfers’ participation in the Asian Games, government grants (funds) will stop and the IGU will not be able to send teams under the Indian flag for any international tournament.

Hindustan Times has learnt that in a rearguard action, IGU treasurer Ishwar Achanta has drawn up a draft, which he claimed “largely conformed to the National Sports Code”. It will be placed before the IGU Council soon, and if approved, will be sent to the ministry.