Now, it's OCA's turn to flex its muscles

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has taken exception to what it termed was an attack on its Secretary-General, Randhir Singh, by the Union Sports Ministry.

In a letter addressed to the Union Sports Minister, Dr. M.S. Gill, the OCA Director-General, Husain Al-Musallam, has stated that any personal attack on Randhir Singh “will not be accepted and entertained by the OCA.”

He was responding to the ministry letter of May 25 in which it had alleged that Randhir had a clash of interest in the ongoing dispute about the Government guidelines since he was the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Secretary-General as well as the IOC Member in India, apart from being the OCA Secretary-General.

Warning

The OCA letter warned again that any form of interference in the autonomy of the National Olympic Committee or the National Sports Federations (NSFs) would not be accepted and could result in strict penalties.

Notwithstanding the tone of the letter, the ministry sources were formal and diplomatic, reiterating that there was no change in the government policy to promote autonomy of sports bodies.

“In response to the Delhi High Court, the Government has filed, on May 1, the guidelines of 2001 and 1975. These are court property and are to be discussed on August 18,” sources said. Government endeavours were focused fully on the timely preparations to hold the Commonwealth Games in October and the Indian contingent's participation in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, a month later, they said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had also warned the ministry repeatedly of the consequences in case the latter continued to insist on imposing the guidelines on the IOA and the NSFs.