Asian Games 2018: IOA says sport ministry included 4 officials in Indian contingent without its recommendation

New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Sunday said four officials and support staff cleared by the sports ministry on its own cost for the Asian Games cannot be part of the contingent as it has not recommended them for the multi-sporting event starting 18 August. [caption id=“attachment_4705521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The IOA on shot off a letter to the sports ministry, asking how these four officials and support staff were included in the contingent without being recommended by it. They are not even accredited for the Games, the national Olympic body said. The four are SC Roy (coach) and Ruma Kar (masseur) from archery, Manoj Rana (coach) from gymnastics and A Jayarajan from swimming. Jayarajan’s capacity in the gymnastics team was not mentioned in the contingent list approved by the Ministry. “We have not sent the names of these four officials to the ministry and we do not know how come there names cropped up in the contingent list approved by the ministry,” IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta told PTI. “Since their names do not feature even in the long list, there is no accreditation for them and hence they cannot be a part of the contingent. So, we have written a letter to the ministry how it has happened,” he added. Mehta also said the IOA has requested the Ministry to reconsider its refusal to bear the cost of all 26 team managers, saying that the federations will not be able to bear the expense of sending them to the Games. “The federations will not be able to send the team managers if they have to bear their cost. Then the teams will be playing in the Asian Games without managers and it may lead to problems like the boxer Sarita Devi case in the last Asian Games. “In those kind of situations, only the team managers can lodge a complaint. The coaches and other support staff cannot do anything in such cases. Then everybody will blame the federation and the IOA for no fault of theirs,” Mehta said. The IOA has also mentioned in the letter to the Ministry to include two more coaches in sport climbing as all the three Indian participants are minors, saying each of them need a coach under rules. Only Amit Kumar has been cleared by the government to be part of the sport climbing contingent for the three players – Sanjay Shreya Nankar, Maibam Chingkheinganba and Bharath Stephen Pereira. “All the three are minors and under rules each of them should be accompanied by a coach. So we have requested the ministry to clear two more coaches in sport climbing,” the IOA Secretary General said. The IOA is also trying to convince the Ministry to bear the cost of 400m coach Basant Singh and change the P-Card status of another athletics coach.