IOA Sham – Sporting Shame

By Nikita Pandey

Anyone with the slightest knowledge of sports, Olympics in particular, and who owns a television set or subscribes to a daily newspaper would know what this is all about. For those who don’t, yet, remember two terms – IOC (Indian Olympic Committee) and IOA (Don’t bother)

All my life’s major lessons were taught to me by my father using sport metaphors. Even as a kid being bullied, I’d be told to ‘be a sport’ by the bullies at the slightest hint of protest. Learning a sport requires major concentration, patience, sacrifice and grit. We are told to look at and learn from the regimented life of a sports person. Obviously then, seeing our national Olympic governing body behave as if the world is their political oyster, I wonder if they were ever told as children, that a sports arena is not a place to camouflage your criminal records. Or to flex your unruly muscles in un-sporty matters. So what exactly is a person like Lalit Bhanot doing in a place like the Indian Olympic Association!

For the uninitiated, Mr. Bhanot’s claim to fame is cheating an entire nation of its pride during the time when India hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010. After an extensive CBI probe, he was found to be guilty of, you guessed right, cheating, along with criminal conspiracy and forgery.

In December 2012, the same Lalit Bhanot was elected as the secretary general of the IOA. Being a mute spectator of the ways of Indian politics, having a criminal on the board of a sports body doesn’t raise my eyebrows as high as it would have some years ago. The real surprise here has been the IOA’s blatant disregard for its parent body, the IOC. Post the Dec. 2012 elections, the IOC seems to have had enough and has, as blatantly, suspended the IOA for continuously flouting the IOC charter. Even so, it seemed like the issue would fizzle out and matters resolved behind closed doors. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Eight months on, in August, the IOA declared that it was ready to comply with the demands of the IOC. In its report, the IOA agreed to incorporate all clauses recommended by the IOC and its charter. All but one clause – that of permitting a person charged with a crime to contest elections. The IOA claims that the law of the land has no such laws barring a person only charged, not convicted of a crime.

In the recently held Executive Board meeting in Buenos Aires, IOC announced the new deadline of Oct. 31 urging the Indian body to ‘seize the golden opportunity’ to show its readiness to implement the ‘basic principles of good governance, ethics and integrity.” After all, these are the qualities a sport stands for.

Supporting the stance of IOC, Indian sports minister Jitendra Singh too has said that the Indian Olympic Association must take the threat of subsequent ban seriously and to immediately act upon it. Which also raises a question – if the IOA is funded by the government, why can the government not interfere in its working and make it accountable to the Indian people, especially the athletes! How long can the IOA go on claiming its independent status and make a mockery of an entire populace on a global platform.

India’s sole Olympic gold medallist, ace shooter Abhinav Bindra, recently issued a statement as a part of his campaign to clean the IOA.

“Asian Youth Games has been a prime example where our athletes took part as independent athletes under the banner of the Olympic Council of Asia. It is disheartening and frustrating.”

Many others have joined him, including boxer Sushil Kumar, twice Olympic medallist himself. Mr. Bindra says “the IOA has failed the country”. Staying true to historical evidence, it is the athletes who are applying all their might and force and energy and time into making sure such travesty is avoided. A job that should have been taken care of by the officials.

Just watching our athletes stand astutely to the tune of our national anthem being played before or after a game or ceremony makes us proud. It is impossible to imagine their feelings on not seeing their national flag being waved or the anthem being played on the field. The heads at IOA need to realise that soon, there wouldn’t be any IOA. All this power play will only lead to more chaos. More importantly, it is the athletes who will suffer the most. Not just them, but many more such dreams of playing for the nation will be crushed under the unpleasant bulge of the fight for power.

Come 2016, I hope all will be well and the opening ceremony at Rio will see the mighty Indian contingent, proudly holding up the national flag. Although I do realise the road leading up to it is going to be one hell of a ride.

Nikita Pandey: A student of the humanities, having obtained a masters degree in Sociology from Mumbai University. Because of her love for the performing arts, she is currently learning Odissi, an Indian classical dance form.
Other activities include writing, watching movies, cooking, travelling and staying in loop of all current affairs.