Too many officials weigh heavy on Indian Olympic body
Saturday is the last date for submission of the ‘delegation registration meeting’ (DRM) for the Rio Olympic Games, which will allow Indian athletes and officials to enter the Games Village and avail its facilities. But the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has failed to finalise the list of officials who will accompany the contingent, thus delaying the submission of the DRM.
The national federations had forwarded the names of around 85 people — including 12 IOA officials --- to be included in the Indian contingent. But as per quota allotted to India on the basis of the 120 qualified athletes, the list of officials should not exceed 65.
An IOA source said the country’s national Olympic committee was not in a position to take on the federations and prune the list as the IOA elections are due before December. HT has learnt that IOA president, N Ramachandran, has gone back to Chennai and the secretary-general, Rajiv Mehta, is not coming to the office due to illness. No other official can take a call on the contingent.
Hockey India (HI) officials are demanding 16 slots as both the men’s and women’s teams have qualified for the Games, while the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), which has 35 athletes, has sent a list of 22 officials. If the IOA accedes to their demands, it will be left with few slots for other disciplines. Besides, athletics, table tennis and weightlifting federations are also demanding managers to be included in the contingent.
Interestingly, the AFI has forwarded the names of two managers, including secretary CK Valson, while it has told discus thrower Seema Punia that it might not able to accommodate her husband and coach, Ankush Punia, in the officials’ list. For AFI, accommodating the secretary is more important than the coach,” said a senior Delhi-based Sports Authority of India (SAI) official.
The deputy chef-de-mission of the contingent, Anandeshwar Pandey, said, “The federations have forwarded more names than their allotted quota, so the list has to be pruned. Today being the last date for submission of DRM, the chef-de-mission, who is in Rio, has sent a communication to all federations to revert back with the fresh list.”
Till the time of filing the story, the federations were yet to prune the list. Pandey said, “In the event of the federations not pruning the list, we will have to do it. We will cut the names as the final list has to be submitted tonight. Otherwise, our players and officials won’t be allowed to enter the Village.”