IOA acting president accused of guarding corrupt system

Clean Sports India, a movement for corruption-free sports in the country, today wrote to the International Olympic Committee, accusing acting Indian Olympic Association president V K Malhotra of protecting corrupt and inefficient system under the garb of “autonomy”. In a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, CSI convenor B V P Rao and president Ashwini Nachappa questioned Malhotra’s plea to the IOC that the “Government of India is hell bent on destroying the autonomy of IOA and National Sports Federations”. [caption id=“attachment_688203” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  VK Malhotra (C) posing with Indian Olympians. AFP[/caption] “The autonomy of Indian sports federations and IOA which Mr. Malhotra is talking about has produced only one individual gold medal in the Olympic Games from a country of over one billion people,” the letter to Rogge read. CSI’s letter to the IOC also highlighted how the corrupt and inefficient system has produced several tainted officials like Suresh Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot and Chautala brothers – Abhay Singh Chautala and Ajay Singh Chautala. CSI has also requested the IOC to send a high level delegations to India to study the ground situation by meeting all stake holders. “We request you to send a high level IOC Mission to India for a week to study the ground situation,” the letter said. CSI accused Malhotra of deliberately delaying the process of getting India’s ban from the Olympics lifted by the IOC for his “vested interest”. The joint meeting between the representatives of the suspended IOA, the Sports Ministry and the IOC, to find a way to resolve the issue that led to India’s ban from the Olympics, had been postponed because of the continuing standoff. The meeting scheduled to be held at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on April 15 and 16, has now become uncertain as the representatives of the IOC-recognised IOA Malhotra and Randhir Singh, and the Sports Ministry have not made headway over differences in age and tenure restrictions. PTI