IOC at war with Federal government

The Indian Olympic Association rejected the government guidelines on sports, calling it ''draconian'' and against the Olympic charter.

''The guidelines are a direct assault on the autonomy of the IOA, and the national sports federations. They violate the Olympic charter and are against the directives of the International Olympic Committee,'' IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said in New Delhi.

"The new guidelines have come as a complete surprise,'' Kalmadi told the media, after the executive committee meeting. "We were rather shocked to hear about them, as the IOA was not consulted before these guidelines were formulated.

"It is unfortunate that the IOA was not taken into confidence before the government took such an important decision,'' he said, adding, ''The IOA's autonomy is paramount, and we will not tolerate any interference in it.''

Kalmadi said that though the IOA has not accepted the guidelines, ''we don't want any confrontation with the government.''

The IOA at this point has constitued a four-member committee comprising of B S Ojha, R L Anand, Prof Gursewak Singh and Balbir Singh to go through the guidelines and establish a dialogue with the government in a bid to resolve the matter.

Kalmadi asserted that the IOA did not get any official letter from the government. "We came to know about the guidelines through the media,'' he said.

Kalmadi's main grouse appears to be the government's categorisation of sports disciplines into three sections - a, b and c. This has, he feels, been done in a very arbitrary manner and without consulting sports federations.

He said the ''c'' category displines have been barred from taking part in international competitions, which is very discriminatory and against the Olympic charter.

The government's decision to depute observes to oversee the elections of the national sports federations is also against the concept of the federations' autonomy, Kalmadi asserted.

The IOA boss said that the body has decided not to take any money from the government for sending teams to Asian, Commonwealth and Olympic tournaments. ''We will not take a single paise from the government for sending the team for these games,'' he said, but added that the IOA has asked the government to sanction Rs 300 million for preparing the team for next year's Asian and Commonwealth Games.

''I have requested finance minister P Chidambram to release the money as soon as possible, so that our training programme is not hampered'', he said. ''Let the money be spent by the Sports Authority of India, but the IOA will monitor its spending so that money is used for the specific purpose of training the teams for the Asiad and Commonwealth Games,'' he said.

Kalmadi said the government has agreed to provide tax exemption for sponsors of the national games and regional competitions, and for those who offer infrastructure for sports. ''It is going to be a landmark decision, and a bill to this effect will be presented in this very session of Parliament," he said.

Kalmadi, referring to the ongoing dispute that is rocking the badminton world, said that both the Badminton Association of India and the Indian Badminton Confederation had sought affiliation to the IOA.

Kalmadi said that the normal practise was for the IOA to appoint a commission to look into such cases. "We are looking into it," the IOA boss said.

Kalmadi said that when he took over, the then BAI president Fazil Ahmed had written to him seeking affiliation to the IOA. ''However, the letter was withdrawn after 15 days. Similarly, a second letter was also withdrawn," he said.

Earlier story:
Government announces fresh sports guidelines