‘Suspension to remain till IOA satisfies all conditions’

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), in its suspension letter to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), has made it clear the national sports body would remain suspended until it was in a position to satisfy all the conditions set out in the Olympic Charter and IOC’s requirements.

In the letter to IOA acting president V.K. Malhotra, IOC president Jacques Rogge clearly stated the requirements of the Olympic Charter and the IOC.

The requirements included “to guarantee its full autonomy; to ensure free and fair elections in conformity with its own statutes and the Olympic Charter; and to implement all basic principles of ethics and good governance in its daily management“.

Rogge also said that the IOC executive board has decided that the IOA was “no longer entitled to exercise any activity or right conferred upon it by the Olympic Charter or the IOC”.

“The IOC will withhold any financial assistance to the IOA. It will also not be entitled to hold any elections without express prior approval of the IOC,” Rogge said in his letter.

The IOC executive board also reserved the right to take further measures and to take action with regard to the participation of Indian athletes in international Olympic-related events.

Giving reasons for suspending IOA, the president explained: “The IOA is faced with outside interference in applying its election rules, which threatens the IOA’s autonomy and the holding of free and fair elections in conformity with the IOA statutes and the Olympic Charter.

“And the IOA has been unable to observe its own statutes and the Olympic Charter and to enforce the basic principles of ethics and good governance.

“The IOC executive board also noted that the IOC, in close coordination with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), has made every possible effort for more than two years to assist in the amicable resolution of these issues. However, the IOC’s position has not been taken into consideration seriously and responsibly by the IOA and the relevant government authorities in India,” the letter said.