Govt backs IOC diktat on IOA
Put national interest first, Sports Minister to administrators
Ahead of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) general body meeting on Sunday to decide fate of its secretary-general Lalit Bhanot objected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Sports Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday came out in support of the IOC bid to clean up the country’’s apex sports body.
The IOC has sent a draft constitution for adoption by the IOA to bar the chargesheeted persons from contesting its elections.
In a statement, he said, “Apart from the age and tenure restrictions imposed by the Sports Code, the Government of India also supports the efforts of the IOC to strengthen ethical standards in the IOA” through a clause that ensures no one facing criminal charges is elected to the IOA.
He went on to assert that “the clause is in line with what the Government has itself proposed in the Draft Sports Bill, 2013.”
The IOA was suspended from the IOC last December for not adhering to its own national constitution during elections and electing Lalit Bhanot as its new secretary-general despite facing a criminal charge of corruption in the 2010 Commonwealth Games ( CWG) for which he was in prison for more than 10 months last year.
Jitendra Singh urged the IOA general body to end the impasse with the IOC as his worry is that the Indian players will not be able to compete in the Rio Olympic in 2016 under the Indian flag if IOA is derecognised by the IOC. “As sports minister and a sportsperson my first and foremost task is to ensure that Indian sportspersons compete under the Indian Flag. Our collective dream is to ensure that we listen, multiple times to the Indian national anthem at Rio 2016 when India wins
Sports Minister Olympic gold medals. As a former National medalist, I understand the pain and the hard work that it takes to excel in sports,” he said.
He has been a national medalist in trap shooting.
He said, “The Government of India urges all concerned to ensure that individual in- terests should not come in the way of our national interest and good of sports. At the same time, the Government of India places highest emphasis on the standards of ethics and good governance as per the Olympic Charter.”
Refusing to change
its stance on barring the charge-sheeted persons from contesting the IOA elections, the IOC last Saturday said it can’t undermine the Olympic charter and asked the IOA to adopt the draft constitution it had sent for revocation of its suspension.
IOA had objected to the IOC diktat saying that Indian law would prevail on these matters, but IOC stuck to its stand with a veiled threat of possible action if the Indian body does not meet the conditions requested by it.
“The IOC has never questioned the principle that till one is convicted one is innocent. However the IOC Code of Ethics clearly states that the Olympic parties (which include the NOCs) must undertake to respect and ensure the respect of the IOC Code of Ethics which says in particular that they must not act in a manner likely to tarnish the reputation of the Olympic Movement. The IOA (still suspended) must therefore act responsibly and must adopt a clear wording in its revised Constitution,” IOC stated in its letter.
New Delhi Her case may be getting weaker with each passing day but a consensus is still awaited on discus thrower Krishna Poonia’s plea to be reconsidered for the country’s highest sporting honour, the Khel Ratna award, as the file is still with Sports Minister Jitendra Singh.
Though it is certain that Jitendra would stick to the original list that was issued last week for the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards, a top official in the Ministry today told PTI that a formal announcement on the controversial development is still awaited.
“The names are yet to be made official as the file is still with the sports minister,” the official said.
The day saw ace shooter and Khel Ratna selection panel member Anjali Bhagwat saying that Poonia had called her to lobby for the top honour just a day before the committee met last week.
A miffed Bhagwat said it was not right on Poonia’s part to claim that it was she who got the list changed at the last moment to include double trap World Champion Ronjan Sodhi’s name in place of the discus thrower.
Poonia rubbished the allegations saying she was only raising her voice against the ‘injustice’ meted out to her.
After the chorus for considering Poonia’s name for the Khel Ratna grew, Jitendra met his team yesterday but could not arrive at a final decision on a day which saw the athlete making her second visit in six days to the Sports Minister.
Suspense still remains over Poonia’s plea but the Sports Ministry has already indicated that there that there was likely to be no change in either the name recommended for the Khel Ratna award or the initial 15 names of sportspersons nominated for the Arjuna awards.
“There is no change in the initial list of athletes recommended for either Khel Ratna or Arjuna awards. Everything remains the same,” the official had told.
Sodhi’s name was recommended for the Khel Ratna award last week, sparking a controversy with some members of the panel questioning the process of his selection.
A selection panel member had said that Poonia and London Paralympics silver medallist H N Girisha were shortlisted for voting by 11 out of 12 selection panel members and Sodhi’s name was not considered initially.
According to reports, the scenario, however, changed after Bhagwat came in late for the meeting and Girisha’s name was removed. Eventually the voting was for the selection of either Sodhi and Poonia.
The award’s selection committee is headed by three-time billiards world champion Michael Ferreira and comprises former India hockey captain Zafar Iqbal, archer Limba Ram, cricketer Ravi Shastri and table tennis player Indu Puri amongst others.
Poonia, a 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, was upset that the committee ignored her for the Khel Ratna despite having support from some members.