CHENNAI: Even as the rift between the IOA president and the Executive Council members widens and takes a perilous turn with both sides blaming the other for the mess, the International Olympic Committee has sent a stern warning by suspending all payments to be made to the IOA.
The IOC had earlier told this daily ten days ago that “the IOA is fully responsible for the current situation and must urgently address and resolve its internal governance issues.”
The IOA president, PT Usha, and the 12 EC members are locked in a bitter and dirty tussle over the appointment of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Raghuram Iyer.
The IOC said that it is an internal issue of the IOA and they must resolve it at the earliest. The IOC’s National Olympic Committee Relations and Olympic Solidarity Director, James McLeod, in a letter addressed to the IOA president and the all EC members, said, “The IOC had deployed intense efforts over the past few months to help you collectively to find constructive solution t o address the daily functioning of the IOA and work together...”
The IOC said that they have carefully reviewed the situation again. “There are obvious ongoing internal disputes and governance issues facing the IOA including a number of reciprocal allegations which have been raised within the executive council,” said the letter.
“This situation creates a lot of uncertainty and needs clarification and therefore until further notice, the IOC and Olympic solidarity will not make any payments to the IOA, except for direct payments to athletes benefiting from Olympic scholarships.”
The letter was marked to Nita Ambani, the IOC member from India and Olympic Council of Asia, whose president is former IOA secretary general Randhir Singh.
The IOA gets about Rs 8.5 crore from the IOC as solidarity funds. The 12 EC members who have been protesting against the IOA chief and sent their own version of minutes of the September 26 EC meeting that was called off after it turned ugly. What seems interesting is that the letter is marked only to the IOA chief and the EC members.
The last part of the letter sounded more like a warning. The IOC said that the IOA should apprise them of further developments. “We would appreciate if you could keep us informed of any further, hopefully positive, developments and we are sincerely hoping that that an appropriate solution can urgently be found within the IOA so that the IOA can operate properly in the interest of the athletes...,” McLeod said in the letter.
What seems interesting is that the IOC has taken cognisance of the infighting and has sent stern warning to the IOA over the non-functioning of its office.
It is understood that work in the IOA has come to a standstill over the standoff and the IOC not marking letter to CEO and acting CEO could be of concern. The IOC had earlier said that it acknowledged the appointment of the CEO.
"The IOC took note of this decision and is very satisfied to see that this much-awaited appointment process has been finally completed, as part of the governance reforms which were adopted in the IOA's Constitution and had to be implemented," the IOC had told this daily after the appointment.
Things have gone out of hand and now the general body will decide the fate of Usha and EC members on October 25 during the Special General body Meeting.