It was brewing for some time. This power tussle between the top functionaries of the Indian Olympic Association ... president Narinder Batra and secretary-general Rajeev Mehta ... has been waiting to happen for quite a while.
Foundations of the rift was laid long ago when Batra, despite laying down office in Hockey India when he stepped up to take stewardship of FIH, remained pretty much hands-on as far as IOA was concerned. His regular interactions with government officials, both in the ministry of youth affairs and sports as well as Sports Authority of India, didn't go down well with Mehta who expected to be running the show even in his second term in office much the same way as he did in his first!
The latest provocation has been the opening of SAI training facilities for sports persons and Batra's enthusiastic backing of the move. Mehta chose to disagree with the IOA president saying the move could jeopardise the health and welfare of elite athletes.
Mehta would do well to remember that IOA is only an apex body with little or no control over the day to day functioning of various sports. It is within the purview of IOA to interact with the MYAS and SAI as far as training and other related facilities are made available to country's top sports persons but beyond that it is best left to the experts in each field.
Batra, quite smartly, used his presence in Delhi through the Covid19 pandemic to take charge of the co-ordination with government bodies, leaving the secretary-general fuming since Mehta felt it was his role being usurped by the president.
Be that as it may, the public utterances by both officials does not help the cause of sports. After all it is for the benefit of sports that officials must perform and when they begin to disagree over petty issues, things do not augur well.
Opening training facilities for sports persons is a move in the right direction as society hits the restart button, albeit with great care. SAI on its own has laid down a Standard Operating Procedure for all training facilities though it may not be all encompassing but at least a start has been made.
Individual athlete has the choice to utilise an SAI training facility or be on his/her own depending upon the level of comfort. But top IOA functionaries arguing about such affairs is hardly a solution that Indian sports needs in such unprecedented times.
What has emerged from the rather unsavoury public exchange is a fight for supremacy that could have been easily avoided. Even now its not too late to stop washing dirty linen in public!
It will only hurt IOA and Indian sport!
Foundations of the rift was laid long ago when Batra, despite laying down office in Hockey India when he stepped up to take stewardship of FIH, remained pretty much hands-on as far as IOA was concerned. His regular interactions with government officials, both in the ministry of youth affairs and sports as well as Sports Authority of India, didn't go down well with Mehta who expected to be running the show even in his second term in office much the same way as he did in his first!
The latest provocation has been the opening of SAI training facilities for sports persons and Batra's enthusiastic backing of the move. Mehta chose to disagree with the IOA president saying the move could jeopardise the health and welfare of elite athletes.
Mehta would do well to remember that IOA is only an apex body with little or no control over the day to day functioning of various sports. It is within the purview of IOA to interact with the MYAS and SAI as far as training and other related facilities are made available to country's top sports persons but beyond that it is best left to the experts in each field.
Batra, quite smartly, used his presence in Delhi through the Covid19 pandemic to take charge of the co-ordination with government bodies, leaving the secretary-general fuming since Mehta felt it was his role being usurped by the president.
Be that as it may, the public utterances by both officials does not help the cause of sports. After all it is for the benefit of sports that officials must perform and when they begin to disagree over petty issues, things do not augur well.
Opening training facilities for sports persons is a move in the right direction as society hits the restart button, albeit with great care. SAI on its own has laid down a Standard Operating Procedure for all training facilities though it may not be all encompassing but at least a start has been made.
Individual athlete has the choice to utilise an SAI training facility or be on his/her own depending upon the level of comfort. But top IOA functionaries arguing about such affairs is hardly a solution that Indian sports needs in such unprecedented times.
What has emerged from the rather unsavoury public exchange is a fight for supremacy that could have been easily avoided. Even now its not too late to stop washing dirty linen in public!
It will only hurt IOA and Indian sport!
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