Bindra, Bhupathi co-sponsor petition for a corruption-free IOA

Abinav Bindra, India’s gold-medal winning shooter, is one of many Indian athletes and Olympians co-sponsoring a petition on Change.org to ensure that sports administration remains corruption free in India. The petition was started by Ajay Rau and lists as co-sponsors Bindra, tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi, wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, Ronjan Sodhi, the 2013 Khel Ratna recipient, and a host of others in protest against the Indian Olympic Association’s stand on corrupt officials. [caption id=“attachment_1083929” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Abhinav Bindra won gold at the 2008 Olympic Games. Getty Images[/caption] “When I won the first gold medal for India at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it was a moment of pride for me and the entire nation,” Bindra says in an email containing the petition. “Today I am pained to see India’s Olympic dreams shattered because of corruption.” The petition is to be sent to IOC president Jacques Rogge asking him to ensure that the IOA follows the Olympic Charter that calls for charge-sheeted officials to be suspended. The IOA has refused to accept this clause, saying it would violate the rule of law in India as India’s politicians do not have similar restrictions. However, it was the same officials who refused to accept the Indian government’s proposed Sports Bill that called for age and tenure restrictions on the grounds that it violated the Olympic Charter. Bindra goes to write that he believes strong ethics should be non-negotiable and they are demanding “corruption-free sports administration in India”. Among the athletes’ demands are the following: 1. Keep all corrupt and criminals out of IOA- any individual who has charges framed against him/her in Court should not be eligible to run for any election until the time the individual is cleared by the courts. 2. There should be a maximum upper limit of 20 Executive Council members. 3. State Olympic Associations not to be given any voting rights. 4. Voting composition to be as recommended by the IOC: 2 Votes each for sports federations administering Olympic sports and 1 each for all other members. The petition had over 7000 signatures at the time this story was published. For those who wish to sign it, the petition can be found at Change.org. You can read the full petition below: