A delegation of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) will meet the Sports Secretary on Friday to discuss the suspension imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and chalk out a plan of action to return to the Olympic fold.
“A delegation headed by Abhay Singh Chautala will meet Secretary of Sports on 7th of December at 12 noon to discuss the issue and decide the plan of action” an IOA statement said on Thursday.
The IOA has already constituted a two-member committee of R K Anand and Narinder Batra to clarify its position to the IOC and also state the actual facts on the entire development which was misrepresented before the IOC.
“The newly elected executive council committee is committed to the welfare and development of the sport persons and we assure whatever possible will be done to resolve the issue created by (the) IOC,” the statement said.
“The athletes’ interest will be protected at any cost on priority basis. We will also ensure that Indian sportspersons will and shall compete with the pride of the National Flag and nothing less,” it said.
The IOA will soon form a special committee to hold discussions with the government and the IOC to resolve the code issue in the wake of the suspension order.
The IOA, which went ahead with its controversial elections on Wednesday despite the suspension order from the IOC, also has plans to meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and seek his intervention to drop the government’s Sports Code.
“This Code has been there since 1975 and successive governments have not been able to make it into a law. In two or three days an IOA delegation of 8-10 members will meet the Prime Minister and request him to drop the Code,” Chautala had said after taking over charge.
Advisory panel
Meanwhile, the IOA executive council on Thursday constituted a three-member advisory panel to guide the office-bearers on the problems faced by the athletes, besides forming a nine-member Athletes’ Commission to oversee the needs of the players.
The three-member advisory panel includes P T Usha, P Gopichand and Dilip Tirkey.
The General Body also discussed the IOC’s statement that the elections were null and void and wished to clarify that the polls took place with a well laid-out procedure.
Athletes’ Commission: Chairman: Gurbachan Singh Randhawa (athletics). Members: Wilson Cherian (swimming), K Malleswari (weightlifting), Manjit Dua (table tennis); Jatinder Singh (boxing), Aparna Popat (badminton), Anuj Kumar (wrestling).
One member each representing tennis and archery will be nominated soon.