The Indian Olympic Association is at it again — embroiled in their own mess. Kit and ticketing are turning out to be a major concern among athletes who are going to represent India at the South Asian Games in Kathmandu from December 1 to 10. As reported by this newspaper, with just four days to go, athletes are yet to receive tickets and kit for the Games from the Indian Olympic Association.
Interestingly, the tender notice dated November 16 was posted some 10 days ago on the IOA website and the tenders were opened only on November 23 during the Executive committee meeting. Understandably, until Tuesday evening, no kit was distributed. One IOA official confessed that the dates were known some four-five months ago and kits could have been acquired in tentative sizes. The tendering process could have been done long ago to avoid last-minute wrangling.
Even the clearance from the sports ministry was being awaited (until Tuesday evening). The names of athletes and officials apparently were sent on November 23. The volleyball team, that was supposed to leave for Kathmandu on Wednesday, had to send an SOS to get things sorted. By Tuesday evening, things were sorted and tickets were distributed to the players. The women’s team is directly flying to the venue while the men’s team will stop by in New Delhi to pick up all the kits before leaving for the Games.
What seems really baffling is that this is nothing new. There were issues with kits earlier too. There were times over-sized or under-sized vests were distributed. Sometimes the quality was under scrutiny. There was a huge embarrassment when kits arrived late in 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and when ‘India’ went missing on some vests and T-shirts at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. Nothing new indeed! What seems worse is that no one bothered to even rectify it.
The logic given this time by some IOA officials is that it’s just Kathmandu and that players and officials will be going in batches so tickets too can be booked likewise. Well, sounds like our athletes are going on a revelry rather than a competition. With the Olympics around the corner, it is high time IOA gets its act together and sorts out things fast.
The IOA and the SAG organising committee too seemed to have made up after the latter agreed to take a relook into admission of the taekwondo team at the Games. The tussle between the SAG organising committee and IOA started after three disciplines — karate, taekwondo and archery — were denied entry at the Games because they were run by IOA-appointed ad hoc committees and there were issues with the respective world bodies.
As this newspaper had reported, taekwondo players from India are most likely participating but the stench it has left behind is foul. The organising committee has said the final decision will be taken during the Delegation Registration Meeting (DRM) on Wednesday, and most likely will be in India’s favour after both World Taekwondo and International Olympic Committee intervened. And with the volleyball team already on its way to Kathmandu, a rumoured pull-out call seems to be a hoax. Pull-out is definitely not the right thing to do, pull up perhaps is.
Basketball teams ready for test
The Basketball Federation of India announced the men’s and women’s team for the South Asian Games, scheduled at Kathmandu in Nepal next month.
5x5 men’s team: Joginder SIngh, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Prasanna Venkatesh, Muin Baig, Arvind Annadurai, Arvind Arumugam, Satnam Singh, Amritpal SIngh, Aman Sandhu, Sejin Mathew, Shahaj Patel, Harsh Dagar. 5x5 women’s team: Madhu Kumari, Navaneetha Pattemane Udayakumar, Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu, Srividhya Venkataraman, Sathiya Senthilkumar, Jeena Skaria (c), Anjana Prasannan Geetha, Nimmi George, Stephy Nixon, Lopamudra Thimmaiah Kokkalera, Shireen Vijay Limaye, Harsimran Kaur. 3x3 men’s team: Harshwardan Tomar, Rajeev Kumar, Mahipal Singh, R Hari Ram. 3x3 women’s team: Sreekala Rani, Aneesha Cleetus, Sruthi Arvind, Barkha Sonkar.