The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Wednesday urged the Union Government to give its approval for hosting the South Asian Games (SAG) early next year.
A Special General Body Meeting (GBM) of the IOA reiterated its resolve to conduct the games in the country as scheduled despite the Union Sports Ministry suggesting that the games be deferred to 2014.
The meeting decided that in case the Games could not be held in Delhi then the venue could be shifted to any other state which had the infrastructure of international standards.
Addressing the meeting, IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the reasons given by the Sports Ministry seeking the deferment of the SAG were “flimsy and not convincing”.
Malhotra said the IOA had rejected the National Sports Development Bill/code in its totality because it infringed on the autonomy of the sports federations and the IOA.
Malhotra also made it clear that the Ethics Commission and the Court of Arbitration set up by the IOA would start functioning only after the four-member committee submitted its report which would be ratified by the General House.
The meeting also accepted the amendments to the IOA's constitution to have eight vice presidents and six joint secretaries.
It restored full powers to the President to set up committees/commissions, decide about the disciplinary issues and appoint associate vice presidents and joint secretaries. It also approved the amendment that federations whose disciplines are part of the Olympic, Asian and Commonwealth Games would have three votes each while State Olympic Associations would have two votes each.
