Nailing IOA
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: December 06 2012 -

At a time when Indian sportspersons have started making their presence felt in the Olympic arena, it is sad to know that International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been compelled to impose ban on Indian Olympic Association (IOA) over the latter's willful disobedience of several warnings given for cleaning up the mess within.

The proverbial final nail in the coffin of IOA has come in the form of suspension over defiance of IOC's instruction for holding election under the Olympic Charter and IOA's Constitution alone and not under 'government interference'.

For every athlete, who is worth his or her salt, the ultimate dream is to represent their country in Olympic Games, and all that matters towards realizing this dream is hard work for their performance.

However, the failure of IOA to see the writing on the wall has not only left the fledging Olympic movement in the country in a state of confusion but also thrown cold water on the dreams of thousands of budding athletes in the country.

Now that the ban has been imposed, IOA will not only stop receiving IOC funding and its officials banned from attending Olympic meetings and events, but Indian athletes will also be barred from competing in Olympic events under the national flag, and if permitted, it would be only under IOC banner.

Furthermore, the ban entails that the athletes will suffer from reduced interest from sponsors till the suspension is in force. This is not just unfortunate but very embarrassing for Indian sports and athletes.

In a country like India where sports and politics are becoming synonymous, the decision of International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Indian Olympic Association (IOA) over the latter's inability to differentiate sports from politics was inevitable.

It was only waiting to be happened sooner or later. In fact, no sport in India is today free from undue political interference with every imaginable politician and retired bureaucrat with an eye on instant power, fame, money and publicity looking upon sports as their rehabilitative asylum.

And this has been main scourge towards development of sports of India for long.

For what purpose, Chautala Brothers, sons of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, have been made to lead the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) and the Table Tennis Federation (TTFI)?

Does Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who is the boss of Indian Archery Association, have the required experience and expertise to handle the job at hand? And what could we expect from political heavyweights like Natwar Singh, Satish Sharma and Yashwant Sinha, who have been at the helm of affairs of All-India Tennis Association (AITA)?

For development of sports, in the true sense of the term, what is essential is that passion and professionalism lead the sport association or the federation, and this could be expected only from passionate sports persons and definitely not from politicians, who have neither the passion nor any professionalism in whatever they other than corrupting the system.

The ban imposed on IOA should act as the wakeup call to other sport bodies to keep their respective houses in order.