IOA feud ends as EC ratifies CEO Raghuram Iyer's appointment

NEW DELHI: The protracted administrative standoff between Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha and the sports body’s 12 executive council (EC) members ended on Thursday following the govt’s intervention at the highest level. IOA held an EC meeting at the Olympic Bhawan here where the contentious appointment of Raghuram Iyer as the national Olympic committee’s (NOC) CEO was formally ratified. The issue related to a significant sum of Rs 20 lakh per month being paid to Iyer as his salary along with other perks. TOI had exclusively reported in its July 19 edition about an imminent patch-up between Usha and EC members and an informal dinner meeting hosted by sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya to end the impasse. Putting up a united front, IOA held a joint press conference attended by Usha, Iyer, senior vice-president Ajay H Patel, vice-president Gagan Narang, treasurer Sahdev Yadav, joint secretaries Kalyan Chaubey and Alaknanda Ashok, EC members Lt General (retd) Harpal Singh, Amitabh Sharma and Rohit Rajpal, Athletes’ Commission vice chairperson Sharath Kamal and Sportsperson of Outstanding Merit (SOM) Dola Banerjee. “Everything has been sorted out, that is why the CEO is sitting with me. It will now be very smooth functioning going ahead. We did very well at the Paris Olympics and the Asian Games. We also conducted two National Games. There were issues but we have resolved them,” Usha said at the press conference. Chaubey, who was performing the additional duties of acting CEO contrary to Usha and International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) wishes, downplayed the frosty letter exchanges and verbal duel he had with Usha. “There were some differences. We won’t say there was nothing. There had been letters exchanged. But in democracy, when there are two people, two opinions, there are always differences of opinion out there. No house, no organization can completely be flawless. But right now, we want to look forward, look forward in the interest of the nation,” he said. India likely to bag CWG 2030 hosting rights IOA sources have informed that India is all set to get the hosting rights of the CWG 2030, with the Games’ global governing body – Commonwealth Sport – welcoming the country’s aggressive bid and expressing its happiness over the legacy plan, cost effectiveness, sustainability vision and regional outreach to deliver a smart event. A delegation from Commonwealth Sport will visit India in Aug next month and a formal announcement will be made during the global body’s General Assembly meeting in Glasgow in the last week of Nov. Sources said that India will look to host the CWG in a multi-city format with Chennai, Kerala and Delhi among the shortlisted venues. ‘Positive discussions with IOC regarding Oly hosting rights’ Iyer, who was part of the IOA delegation that visited Lausanne last month, informed that India has entered the ‘Continuous Dialogue Process’ with the IOC’s Future Host Commission for hosting the 2036 Olympics, and the next step would be the ‘Targeted Dialogue Process’ before the FHC recommends a preferred host country to the IOC Congress. An announcement from the IOC isn’t expected before 2027 as the IOC itself has announced a “pause” on the host selection process. “We would like to believe that we are in a very positive state. It will be premature to say who will get the hosting rights because there are still countries which are jumping in,” Iyer said. IOA sets up anti-doping panel on IOC’s nudge IOA has set up a sevenmember anti-doping panel, headed by Rajpal, after India’s high rate of positive cases was highlighted by the IOC during their meeting in Lausanne. “The IOC mentioned high doping cases in India when the IOA (delegation) visited Lausanne,” Iyer admitted.