IOA angry over ministry adding officials
INCHEON: Two officials, who did not figure in the jumbo list sent by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to the sports ministry for clearance but still managed to land at the Asian Games, have caused unease among the IOA officials here.
They are Ashish Bhardwaj, who is here as a video analyst with the boxing team, and GS Bawa, who has come as chief-coach-cum-manager with the gymnastics contingent.
A top IOA official brought this to the notice of HT. “It is a norm that the ministry cannot alter the names of officials or athletes after they have been shortlisted by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) in consultations with the National Sports Federations (NSFs). In this case, these two officials did not figure in the list forwarded to the ministry for clearance,” said the official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. SECOND CONTROVERSY As it is, the sports ministry faced criticism following reports that the IOA was “pressurised” to recommend the names of eight ministry officials for accredita- tion. On that issue, another IOA official had said, “After India came out of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspension after being in the international sporting wilderness for 14 months, the ministry’s interference in the NOCs affairs had increased.... Now we can’t afford to alienate them.”
HT is in possession of the jumbo list sent to the ministry and the pruned final list cleared by the ministry in consultation with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). “These two are the most glaring anomalies. We sit with the federation officials and shortlist names, so how can these two become part of the contingent without our knowledge,” said the IOA official.
HT tried to contact Ashish Bhardwaj at the boxing venue but the only response it got from chief coach GS Sandhu and other officials was that he would be there somewhere in the crowd “making videos of the boxers”.
Interestingly, besides the 16-member ‘contingent list’ --minus the four-member IOA team cleared by the ministry --- has masseurs and physiotherapists coming from one particular state. “We did not recommend their names, it is the prerogative of the ministry,” said the IOA official.