CHENNAI: Infighting between rival factions and parallel national sports federations being run by them may cost dear to athletes in the upcoming 2022 National Games.
Even though the National Games are only days away, handball players are not yet certain about their participation in the event. And the uncertainty prevails as two NSFs claiming to be running the sport in the country have sent their respective entries for the event to the Indian Olympics Association (IOA). Given the situation, the IOA has yet to approve the entries giving sleepless nights to teams from the two factions.
The Games, being held after a gap of seven years, are scheduled across six cities of Gujarat from September 29 to October 12. Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Surat and Gandhinagar are the host cities.
Two versions of handball are proposed at the Games — beach and indoor events. The former is scheduled in Surat while the indoor handball will be hosted by Vadodara. Both factions are claiming legitimacy.
On being queried, the IOA asked to wait for two days for the issue to get resolved.
The secretary-general of one of the federations, Handball Association India (HAI), also sang from the same hymn sheet.
"We have sent the entries. We are quite sure the IOA will rule in our favour as the NOC accepts the federation, which is recognised by the international body. We had an annual general meeting in Lucknow on Sunday and representatives from the international and Asian bodies were there. They will soon submit their report and we will produce it before the IOA which will pave way for the participation of our teams," Tejraj Singh, secretary-general of HAI, told this daily.
However, Pritpal Singh Saluja, secretary-general of the Handball Federation of India (HFI), accused the IOA of favouring the other faction. Claiming that the HFI is the authorised body to run the sport in the country, he asserted, "Our teams should compete at the National Games as the HFI is in existence since 1972. If that doesn't happen, I will move the court against the decision.
"Both the factions have sent entries in men's and women's categories for both beach and indoor handball. Top-8 teams from the previous nationals were sent in each category. In the indoor event each team comprises 16 players while in the beach event, every team consists of 10 players.
"As per the court order, we held elections on August 14 and communicated the same to the IOA and other agencies concerned. Before the elections, the administrator who was responsible for day-to-day affairs of the federation sent the names and once the elections got over, we resent the names on August 17. If the IOA doesn't rule in our favour then we will add the issue with our petition which is scheduled to be heard on September 19 in the High Court in Chandigarh," added Saluja.
Even as Saluja claimed that their rival faction has removed deserving teams from the list, Singh said they have chosen teams on the basis of their performances in the previous nationals.
"Senior nationals in men's category were held in Jaipur from March 20-25 this year while the women's nationals were held in Hyderabad from March 29 to April 3. We have chosen the top-8 teams from the nationals. Beach nationals were not organised in the last couple of years so we have chosen the top-8 teams from the last held nationals," said Singh.
It is learnt that entries from at least two other national federations are also on hold for varied reasons. One such federation is taekwondo whose athletes are yet to get clarity on their participation. Taekwondo is another sport that has recognition issues.