IOA makes amends, India back in Olympics
With the Indian flag to be raised at the Games village in Sochi on February 16, more than a week after the Winter Olympics began, a shameful period in the country's sporting history has come to an end. On Tuesday, India returned to the Olympic fold after spending 14 months in exile for violating international rules of governance. This is the first time in the history of the Olympics that a national committee has been re-instated during the course of the Games and it allows India to regain some of its lost respectability. The three Indian athletes participating in the Games at Sochi were not allowed to enter the Olympics stadium under the Indian flag last Friday and had been warned that the Indian anthem would not be played if any of them won a medal. Indeed, when lndian luger Shiva Keshavan competed on Sunday, he did so under the Olympics flag. However, with the International Olympics Committee lifting the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association, cross-country skier Nadeem Iqbal and slalom skier Hamanshu Thakur will be able to represent the country in their upcoming races. India will also be allowed to participate in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games that are scheduled for later this year. While India may not be a force to reckon with at the Winter Olympics, it is a major participant in these other two mega sporting events — and its absence at Glasgow and Incheon would have been especially conspicuous. Equally importantly, the IOA is now eligible for international financial aid including support from the Olympic Solidarity Fund through which the IOC re-distributes some of the Games' revenues to national Olympic committees. For India, this assistance is crucial as, except for the Board of Control for Cricket in India, most of the country’s sports bodies are cash-starved. They do receive some amount of Government assistance but that is hardly enough to nurture world class professionals. Against this backdrop, the funds from abroad make a huge difference.
It is hoped that following its re-instatement at the IOC, the Indian association will make a fresh start and keep a clean house so that it is able to provide a conducive environment for our sportspersons to realise their full potential. The association has taken the initial steps towards this end by barring those charged with corruption from contesting elections for leadership positions within the organisation. This was a contentious move for the IOA which had initially argued that keeping out officials who had only been charge-sheeted but not convicted for graft went against the law of the land. However, after the international body held its ground and threatened permanent expulsion from the Olympics, the Indian association backed down. Fresh elections were held at the IOA this past Sunday and a new set of leaders, some of whom are highly regarded sports administrators, voted to power. They must stay on the good governance track.