CHENNAI: The tussle for supremacy in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) took a dramatic turn late on Thursday. To the chagrin of the IOA members, acting president Anil Khanna, who had earlier filed a contempt petition dated 31.08.2022 in the Delhi High Court against 'IOA president' Adille Sumariwalla and 18 executive council members who had supported him, withdrew the petition as he wants the matter to be settled amicably. He said since the government is making a serious effort to defuse the IOA situation he did not want to complicate the situation.
"The government is making a serious effort to resolve the matter and I would want to extend my support," Khanna told this newspaper on Thursday. "Though I do not agree with the group of people who went to court and the way they were trying to unsettle IOA, but for the larger interest I want to resolve the matter amicably. I want to bring peace in the IOA and in good spirit, I am withdrawing the contempt petition."
Khanna, in his petition, had said that Sumariwalla and others had gone against the order of the Delhi High Court that had agreed that he takes charge as the president after former chief Narinder Batra's election was invalidated.
"I want to bring peace in the IOA so that we can all come and work together to have election and resolve all matters in the IOA," Khanna said. It is understood that there was a meeting of National Sports Federations and the sports ministry where some of the NSFs had raised the issue of the IOA mess. And later, it is learnt the ministry did not want to create more mess.
He also said that members must be patient and that election will be held on or before December (court had given 16 weeks time). "Everyone needs to be patient and in any case, I am ineligible to contest election because I will be 70 years old," he said.
"Right now the priority is to host the National Games in Gujarat later this month successfully. Everyone will be watching us. If we host a successful Games, then we can bid for multi-discipline events like the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics."
Sumariwalla had earlier contested Khanna's appointment saying his post under the IOA constitution did not exist and also he was not elected by the executive council either. Khanna had said he was there because of the court's directive and would vacate if the court says so. "If Adille is president, let him be. If court wants me to continue I will," he said.
However, with a change of heart, things might change for the IOA, especially after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had warned that IOA could face suspension if they did not start the elections process as per the old constitution within the next few weeks through a letter dated July 20, 2022. With IOC monitoring every move in IOA, ministry had to step in and request the Supreme Court to not let Committee of Administrators (CoA) take charge of day-to-day functioning of the IOA, especially after FIFA suspended All India Football Federation (AIFF).
The next IOC session is scheduled to be held in India in June next year. Any suspension of the IOA would mean India may not be able to host it. Also, this will lead to athletes not competing under the national flag in international events.