Asian Games 2018: IOA calls meeting to discuss ministry's proposal on relaxing selection criteria for marquee tournament

New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has called a meeting of its Core and Legal Committees on Friday to decide its future course of action after the sports ministry asked it to relax the Asian Games selection norms for better medal prospects. The sports ministry on Wednesday urged the IOA to relax selection norms in specific cases “in the larger interest of the sports and sports persons” after concerns were raised by various athletes and teams that have missed the cut. The ministry said the Olympic body in consultation with particular federations may reassess the earlier decision on sending entries if those ineligible disciplines have performed consistently for six months but not made it due to lack of exposure and at the same time have strong chance of finishing in the top four. [caption id=“attachment_4776661” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representative photo. Image credit: Twitter/@ioaindia[/caption] The recent circular has put the IOA in a dilemma and the Olympic body has decided to discuss the matter with its Core and Legal Committee before responding to the sports ministry. “We have called a meeting of our Core Committee and Legal Committee tomorrow (Friday) morning at 11 am to discuss the matter and see how to take forward the Ministry’s proposal,” IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta told PTI. “The meeting will also be attended by IOA president (Narinder Batra) and chairman of Preparation Panel (Lalit Bhanot). We will have to discuss the matter extensively and see what can be done.” The IOA official, however, admitted that it would be tough to convince the Asian Games orgainsers for late inclusions as the last date of entries by name was 30 June. “We will have to take a decision on the Ministry’s proposal. But it has come too late. If we decide on sending more athletes, whether to accept our request or not, rests on the Asian Games Orgainsing Committee,” he said. To make matters worse for the IOA, the draws of some sports, including football, have already been announced and it is highly unlikely that the Indian contingent will be accepted at this juncture. The IOA had named a 524-member contingent earlier this month leading to a massive controversy as they left out football for low rankings and the entire four-member triathlon team for furnishing “misleading information”. The IOA then dropped 20 athletes from the Pencak Silat team, alleging fake credentials, prompting the national federation to threaten legal action. The men’s handball team was cleared at the expense of Pencak Silat athletes after the federation knocked the doors of Allahabad High Court. In the original squad announced by IOA, six Sambo athletes – two male and four female – were included but the number was later cut to just one.