Crucial meeting draws roadmap to lift India's ban

In a major breakthrough, a crucial meeting between Indian sports officials and International Olympic Committee in Lausanne today agreed in principle to draw a roadmap to bring India back in the Olympic fold.
The meeting, which assumed great importance for India's sporting future, has worked out the exact details and the timeframe to get the ban lifted ever since it was imposed on December 4 last for India's failure to adhere to the Olympic Charter.
Sports Minister Jitendra Singh, who headed a delegation of the Sports Ministry, said that the ban on India will be lifted after going through a process.

"We had a very positive meeting and I had a fruitful meeting with the IOC chief Jacques Rogge. We have found a roadmap of India getting into the Olympic fold. The ban will be lifted through a process," he said after the meeting.
"Age and tenure restriction rules have been agreed to. We discussed the ethics issues also and there had been agreement on those also," he added.
The IOC also issued a statement elaborating on the salient points covered during the meeting, which it described as fruitful.
"The main purpose of today's meetings was to explore the possibility for the suspended IOA to hold free, fair, democratic and transparent elections on the basis of a revised IOA constitution and the Olympic Charter, with no outside interference, that could pave the way for the IOC to consider lifting its suspension of the IOA," it said in the statement.

The IOC also said that Sports Minister had given guarantees and a clear commitment that the government will fully respect the the principle of autonomy of the Olympic Movement.