IOA braces up for IOC action
Two top Indian Olympic Association officials are preparing to leave for Switzerland for a meeting with International Olympic Committee top brass to plead their case in the wake of the world body’s decision to propose IOA’s suspension in its Executive Board meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The IOA had sought a meeting of its two representatives — Narinder Batra and R K Anand — with the IOC after the world body decided to propose India for disaffiliation for going ahead with its election process under the government’s Sports Code.
It’s still unclear what will happen to the December 5 IOA elections if the world body decides to suspend India. The IOC had said in an earlier letter that the IOA elections held under the government’s contentious Sports Code will not be recognised.
Hockey India General Secretary Batra said that they were waiting for a confirmation of the meeting from the IOC’s end.
“We have got the flight tickets for three days from today onwards and we will board the flight as soon as we get a confirmation of the meeting from the IOC’s side. We are waiting for that and it can come anytime,” Batra told PTI.
“We have prepared everything to present our case before the IOC officials. We have done our homework and we are hopeful of a favourable result,” he said.
Virendra Nanavati, who got elected unopposed as senior vice-president in the controversy-marred IOA elections, said that the IOC has not been given correct picture of the whole story.
“I think the IOC has not been given the correct picture of the whole story. The two officials are going to do just that and we are hopeful that the IOC will not take action against India after hearing our side of the story,” he said.
