CHENNAI: A day after former track and field star Ashwini Nachappa spoke about how she was forced to withdraw her candidature, a feature this daily has been highlighting for a while, another prominent Sportsperson of Outstanding Merit has come out in the open. 2010 Asian Games champion and multiple World Cup medallist Ronjan Sodhi told this daily that he too withdrew after multiple calls from different sources. As one of the last SOMs to withdraw, he received calls from multiple people involved with different sports bodies.
During a free-flowing interview with this daily from his farm in Ferozepur, Punjab, Sodhi said how multiple calls from various stakeholders compelled him to withdraw – one such reason was getting elected to the eight SOM posts (four male and four female) in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) general assembly. However, after his withdrawal, the women's section went to election with six candidates still in the fray. Only the male section did not have an election. In that case, he felt, even the male section could have had an election. Excerpts.
You applied, then withdrew; what led to that?
This was my debut in sports administration. And what a learning experience it's been for me. I actually walk away with a lot of lessons, perspective, and certainly a little more wisdom. If you actually see the entire thing, I only wish there was an award for the best debut, which would definitely come to me.
What led you to withdraw his nomination at the last moment?
As far as my withdrawal is concerned, it was because of repetitive requests. I know some people were promised, some were threatened — not physical harm or anything, but apparently threatened that it won't be good for your career or whatever. But nobody threatened me, and nobody dared threaten me. I felt too many requests by a lot of people. I always say that we sportspersons have handled enough pressure on the field so off the field, I will request everyone not to add any more pressure, especially in the month of November when the AQI is almost 500. It is not good for your health. Politics and sports should be left alone.
In 2013, when I was an active shooter, I had raised this issue when we could not compete under the Indian flag (IOA was suspended), that the sports ecosystem in India should be fair and clean. Unfortunately, (though) it's much better than what it was, but a lot has to be done. We have to revamp the entire sports ecosystem — I'm not talking about IOA, I'm talking in general. I've always given back to the sport, and I always believe in giving back to the sport. And this time, I had to take my nomination back, which was not a very good feeling.
On contesting the SOM election
I did not file my nomination to take it back, and there would have been an election which would have been very fair because if there was an election in women, there should also have been an election in the male category.
On pressure to withdraw
I had multiple requests to withdraw, and no specific reason. It was just a request, not one, many, many requests, and initially I did not understand, and multiple people calling and requesting, "No, please withdraw, please withdraw." I understand the reason, but I didn't see the bigger picture, what's going to happen and all that. So, I said, "Okay, if I'm getting so many requests, maybe I don't deserve to be there, or maybe my well-wishers think that nobody is going to vote for me."
I realised later that a lot of senior sportspersons, accomplished sportspersons, asked me, "Why did you, why did I withdraw?" So, in fact, I didn't have any answer. So, the only answer was, I said, "Diwali time," and I thought, "Okay, this will be the best gift I can give to the people who are calling me, rather than celebrating the festivities, busy with all this."
Was the election free and fair?
As sportspersons, canvassing for each other is okay. You call up someone, and you explain to that person why you're standing for this position, which is fair. But any kind of groupism is not; not very nice. But there is no harm in canvassing for yourself because you have to tell the other person why you are fighting and what your thoughts are. I am not against that, but groupism and politics are not good in sports. You should keep sports as clean as you can keep, because it is fair play, something which we learn when we compete for the country. The whole idea of the Olympics is to get everybody together and have a peaceful, fair game. Throughout my career I have seen, there's always been, whether it's NSF or any sports bodies, politics has always been there, but this was the first time when I actually witnessed this.
So, no, withdrawal is only a request. A lot of people were probably promised, threatened, as I mentioned. But I was requested. The federation, NRAI, or from the IOA side, or from the ministry side, multiple, multiple, multiple... I was surprised. Multiple individuals, multiple bodies, multiple people. Because I think, by the end of it, a lot of people believed that ‘he was not going to withdraw’. And I was the last to withdraw. I wasn't very sure while I was just sending the mail. There wasn't equal participation from sports, either; I failed to understand why. You had only one person from wrestling and many from athletics. They have to find a way to have equal representation.
