CHENNAI: There might be a little reprieve for the Rowing Federation of India. While their recognition expired on Friday, the sports ministry might not take the extreme step of withdrawing all support as that could affect existing training and competition programmes. After RFI’s emergent general meeting on January 25 where they took steps to modify their constitution as mandated by the Indian Olympic Association and later by the sports ministry, there have been indications that the issue could be solved soon.
The sports ministry, in a letter to the federation, had said it would not extend the tenure of recognition that ends on January 31, unless it met all the eligibility criteria as listed out in the 2011 National Sports Development Code of India. They raised the issue of RFI’s voting pattern — allowing proxies to vote and number of councillors — and objected to the newly-elected secretary general’s violation of the cooling-off period. The ministry, however, had maintained that it had sent the January 22 letter just to intimate the RFI about the date when its recognition expires and where it erred in following the 2011 sports code. Once the eligibility criteria, as listed in 2011 sports code are met, the recognition will not be affected.
The RFI too got in touch with the sports ministry and apprised the officials of their emergent general meeting on January 25 where they took measures to implement the 2011 code as per the ministry’s instructions. The federation, as of now, is not facing any difficulty in getting sanctions for training of rowers. All their proposals have been cleared by the ministry. The RFI has issued a notice for extraordinary election meeting on February 22 under the revised constitution wherein only two members from each affiliated unit will be eligible to vote and proxies will not be permitted.
Sports secretary RS Julaniya did not elaborate on RFI’s immediate future but did say that the president of the federation Rajalaxmi Singh Deo did get in touch with the ministry. “The president got in touch and said she has met all eligibility criteria,” Julaniya told this daily. “We will ensure no athlete suffers. If they remove ineligibility issues their recognition will continue. She has sought time for a meeting.” A date has not been fixed.
The federation, through a letter, requested the ministry to extend the deadline to February 29 so that elections could be conducted under the new constitution. Though the ministry is silent on this, Julaniya said the ministry would not allow anything to affect training of athletes. “Our objective is to spread awareness and excellence in sports,” he said.