MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday had said India would like to host the 2036 Olympic Games. Though the interest to host the Games has the government backing, the bid or interest has to be initiated by the National Olympic Committee (NOC); in this case the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
However, the IOA has time and again been warned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to follow its newly-amended constitution and appoint a Chief Executive Officer. In fact, the constitution was vetted by the IOC and was aligned with the IOC Charter. Because of this, the IOC is yet to meet officials from the IOA and all communications, as reported by this newspaper, is with IOA president PT Usha in the absence of a CEO.
As of now, India is staring down the barrel because of this. There are indications that IOC may not hesitate to penalise. Some even say this could lead to sanctions or even suspension.
Even during the IOC Session and its Executive Board meetings here since Tuesday, there have been meetings with the IOC who once again reminded IOA to appoint a CEO. The IOA president in fact had a meeting with IOC chief Thomas Bach on Wednesday. Interestingly, there was a meeting with the IOC on Saturday too where almost all the Executive Committee members were present and the appointment of CEO was discussed.
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The IOA apparently has been given one month’s time to sort out the mess. It is understood that a section of the IOA wants certain provision of the constitution to be diluted to appoint a CEO because they have not got enough response first time they advertised for the post in January. This time it is understood that the IOA is serious about the appointment. As of now, joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey is the acting CEO.
"…as far as the IOC is concerned, all communications are addressed to the IOA President, in the absence of a duly appointed CEO," the IOC had said to this daily earlier. If the IOA doesn’t appoint a CEO, relationship with the IOC might deteriorate. For a successful bid, there is a necessity of a fully functional IOA.
