CHENNAI: The Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) ad-hoc committee is once again clueless. This time they have allowed two wrestlers to compete at the Asian Games without any trials. Who is the ad-hoc committee listening to? There are two members: Bhupender Bajwa, president of the Wushu Federation of India, and national shooting coach Suma Shirur, who hardly attended meetings. There have been occasions when their decisions have raised eyebrows.
Though the IOA top officials are abreast of certain decisions taken by the panel, not everything is known. Even the two wrestling experts, Gian Singh and Ashok Garg, had claimed they were not taken into confidence before taking decisions like the one-bout trials. Interestingly, the two were not informed about the decision to exempt the wrestlers on Tuesday. Some believe that the two members are in touch with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and its top officials and sports ministry too. It is understood that most members in the IOA also did not want a situation where select wrestlers were given undue advantage.
They felt it would be seen as an unsporting gesture. Some IOA officials wanted a trial for the wrestlers on their return to test their fitness because that will also show that they are ready to compete. Whatever it is, one must realize that this exemption has the potential to harm the reputation of the wrestlers too.
If this is something that did not reflect well on the expertise of the ad-hoc panel, the way they handled the Gauhati High Court stay order of WFI elections seemed ludicrous. As reported by this newspaper, once the election process starts, the court usually doesn’t stall elections. Yet, the ad-hoc panel, which was one of the respondents on behalf of WFI in a petition filed by the Assam Wrestling Association last month, did not contest the order. On Monday, they did not even send a lawyer to argue the case.
During the hearing, a new one-judge bench of Devasish Baruah seemed not convinced by the stay order. "What is wrestling doing here? Elections... how can there be a stay? What is this stay business of elections, this writ business? This should go to civil court. What are you doing in writ court?” he observed during the hearing on Monday (as per Court No 17 zoom recording of Gauhati HC).
“You have to satisfy me. Where is the stay in the election matter?” he questioned the counsel appearing on behalf of AWA. When the counsel said that they should wait for the WFI (ad-hoc committee) response, he said: “Why should we continue with the stay? It is an election matter.” He even asked the council to name a few prominent players which they faltered. “You do not have a case, you are lucky they (WFI) are not here," were his parting notes.
However, on Tuesday, while hearing a plea filed by Andhra Pradesh Amateur Wrestling Association against the Gauhati HC order, the Supreme Court said: “In the meantime, the impugned order dated 25.06.2023 in WP(C) No. 3757/2023 passed by the Gauhati High Court shall remain stayed.”
Andhra wrestling association president RK Purushottam said he moved the court last week and was hopeful of a positive result because he felt that the last month’s order was ‘erroneous’. According to the petition, “It is most respectfully submitted that the Impugned Order of the High Court is erroneous, untenable and are liable to be set aside and the Petitioner has a strong prima facie case in light of the fact that it is well-settled law that once an election process is started, courts would not interfere in the conduct of the election.”
So, who is running the ad-hoc committee? Usually, the IOA and its executive committee should be consulted while taking important decisions. Some believe that the SAI and its top officials are guiding the ad-hoc panel, and of course, the sports ministry too could be helping them out. Whatever it is, the way the ad-hoc committee is running, it definitely doesn’t augur well for the sport. They did not announce selection criteria until the last moment and if insiders are to be believed, they apparently waited for various court hearings to get over. Rather than thinking about the development of sport, they are busy firefighting.
Even in the case of All India Football Federation (AIFF), it is understood that the IOA is reluctant to send the team because it fails the selection criteria.
