Asian Games 2018: Indian Olympic Association to enforce 'no accreditation policy' for parents of athletes

New Delhi: Left with a bitter experience after Saina Nehwal’s pull-out threat during the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has decided to strictly follow “no accreditation policy” for the parents of sportspersons during the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia. In Gold Coast, Saina’s father Harvir Singh initially didn’t get accreditation to stay inside the Games Village leading to the Olympic bronze medallist threatening to pull out. [caption id=“attachment_4222235” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representative photo. Image credit: Twitter/@ioaindia[/caption] The IOA had then arranged for Nehwal senior’s accreditation and Saina went onto play a pivotal role in winning gold in team event as well as women’s singles. “There is no policy to give accreditation to parents of the players. We made an exception in Gold Coast as the athlete in question (without taking Saina’s name) said she won’t play,” IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta told mediapersons. “We gave her parent a ‘P’ type accreditation as there were officials who were not travelling, which allowed us to make an exception. But no parents of athletes will get an accreditation from IOA for Asian Games,” Mehta added. However, if a particular National Sports Federation (NSF) includes a parent or a spouse or a relative in the support staff, IOA will not be in a position to raise an objection. “The convention is 25 percent of the squad will have officials/support staff. For example, if any particular squad comprise 12 members, then three will be officials (coach, manager). Now if an NSF induct any parent/spouse/relative as official, then we can’t object,” Mehta said.