CHENNAI: IN the end it seems like much ado about nothing. Finally, all the factions in the Indian Olympic Association seems to have buried the hatchet. The Executive Committee has ratified the appointment of Chief Executive Officer Raghuram Iyer on Thursday. The appointment of CEO Iyer in January last year led to the majority of the EC members objecting to it and alleged that the IOA president had decided on this unilaterally without the consent of the EC. More than 10 EC members has signed a letter objecting to it. Just over eight months, the IOA seems be an unified lot. IOA president PT Usha said on Thursday that everything has been sorted and the CEO appointment has been ratified which the EC members had objected then. "Everything is sorted out, that is why the CEO (Iyer) is sitting with me," she said during a press meet in New Delhi.
Getting the house in order seemed to be their priority after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had warned India that their 2036 Olympic bid without a strong National Olympic Committee might not be favouring them. In quite a few replies to this newspaper, the IOC kept reiterating their position of a united house.
Interestingly, the CEO appointment had been accepted by the IOC last year itself. Even before the ratification, the CEO had been part of almost all important meetings involving the IOA including the Paris Olympics, IOC headquarters in Lausanne and Commonwealth Sports. Joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey, who during the days of revolt had proclaimed himself as acting CEO quite a few times and had been rude to the IOA president also seemed at peace when he said they are now looking forward in the interest of the nation.
Bidding game and a change of guard in sports ministry could have led to this sudden change of heart in the EC. The IOA president too had been indicating a truce sooner or later.
India is bidding for two major multi-discipline events -- the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the big 2036 Olympic Games. They need the house in order and even the sports ministry had taken exception to this feud. Interestingly, all these peace talks as we say, came after changes in the sports ministry as well. They have got a new secretary who apparently is more proactive and the old Director General of Sports Authority of India has left last year. There were enough indications that suggested how SAI was taking keen interest on elections.
The point of contention was the salary of CEO Iyer. So riled were the EC members that they equated a CEO with an IOA office staff and claimed the salary was too high. What made them change their decision when the National Sports Governance Bill has been tabled in the Parliament seems to be quite intriguing.
The CEO has also said that India are in the "continuous dialogue state" with the IOC. But since new IOC chief Kirstey Coventry has "paused and reflect" the Olympic bid, India would get a clear picture in the next couple of years. The CEO too was relieved.
The IOA has also formed an anti-doping panel to look into the high doping cases in India. The IOA treasurer who has been a bit nasty with the IOA president also apparently played down the feud during the press meet.
All EC members except Rajalakshmi Singh Deo, Bhupinder Singh Bajwa and Mary Kom were present.
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This was announced by Sharath Kamal, one of the two members of the Athletes Commission in the EC.
Rohit Rajpal will head the seven-member IOA committee to look into doping menace in the country. This is one of the points highlighted during the IOA's meeting with the IOC in Lausanne in June.
