With sweeping powers to CEO, IOA dynamics may change
Just to jog readers' memory, the feud between the EC and IOA president PT Usha started last year in January when she placed the appointment of CEO Raghuram Iyer with the EC for ratification. Initially, according to the IOA president, the EC agreed her proposal with a rider; to renegotiate CEO's salary, which the EC thought was too high. The IOA president then endorsed the appointment saying it was done after renegotiating the salary.
However, India's worst phase of sports administration hit its nadir when the feud turned into an ugly public spat. There were multiple forces in action. Things were different then. The sports minister was different, so was the sporting ecosystem. The sports ministry had a different secretary. The Sports Authority of India was all powerful with its top officials overseeing almost all sporting programmes including the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition. The NSFs looked feeble.
Just to put some context, the way athletes' commission members were elected before IOA election in 2022 seemed a bit weird. The first part of the nomination of elections was conducted from the premises of the SAI. 'The voting shall take place on 14.11.2022 (Monday) between 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at VIP Lounge of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Complex, Pragati Vihar, New Delhi 110003,' read the returning officers' notice on electing athletes commission. It is common knowledge that of the 40 odd applications of top athletes from different disciplines all but 10 withdrew overnight. And they in turn selected the eight Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit. Two persons from the athletes commission had voting rights in the general assembly along with the eight SOMs. The EC right from the beginning led by the senior vice president, joint secretary, vice president and others wanted to assert themselves, something that did not go down well with Usha and she was forced to appoint an Executive assistant.
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