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CJI Khanna recuses himself from hearing pleas on IOA, AIFF constitutions

Chief Justice of India Sanjv Khanna on Monday recused himself from hearing two separate pleas pertaining to finalisation of the constitutions of the Indian Olympic Association and the All India Football Federation, both framed by former apex court judge Justice L Nageswara Rao. At the outset of the proceedings, the Chief Justice of India (CJI), who was sitting on the bench with Justice Sanjay Kumar, said he would not be part of the bench to hear these cases as he had earlier taken up one of the pleas in Delhi High Court. "Let the pleas come before another bench headed by Justice PS Narasimha on February 10. I remember hearing this in Delhi High Court," CJI Khanna said. The pleas were last taken up on March 19, 2024, by a bench headed by the-then CJI DY Chandrachud. The bench had then permitted the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to file its objections to the draft constitution proposed by Justice Rao. "The amicus curiae will update the existing chart to reflect the objections

WFI challenges in Delhi HC order restoring mandate of IOA's ad-hoc panel

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) approached the Delhi High Court on Thursday, challenging an order granting liberty to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to reconstitute an ad-hoc panel for running the federation's affairs. The appeal came up before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, which listed it for hearing on December 18 as the lawyer for one of the parties was not available on Thursday. The WFI has challenged the August 16 interim order of a single-judge bench of the court that said the IOA's decision to dissolve the ad-hoc committee was incompatible with the sports ministry's order suspending the WFI shortly after its elections in December last year. The single judge had said until the suspension order was recalled, it was necessary for the ad-hoc committee to manage the federation's affairs. The order had come on a plea moved by celebrated wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and her husband, Satyawart ...

Sports regulatory board will ensure good governance: Mandaviya on NSG Bill

Playing down concerns surrounding the autonomy of national federations and the IOA if a regulatory board comes into existence, sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya has asserted that the body is an essential step towards ensuring good governance and does not intend to interfere in day-to-day operations. The establishment of a Sports Regulatory Board is one of the key features of the draft National Sports Governance Bill, which the government intends to introduce in the Parliament soon. The regulatory body will have the authority to grant, renew, and suspend the affiliation of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and national sports federations, among others. "We don't want to interfere. That's why I did a lot of dialogue, I had a lot of consultations with the federations. I consulted with eminent sports personalities and even lawyers who are against us," Mandaviya told reporters during an interaction on Friday. "We don't want to take control, but we can't leave it unattended. It is the

IOA submits 'Letter of Intent' to host the 2036 Olympics in India

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has submitted a 'Letter of Intent', expressing the country's desire to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to the International Olympic Committee's Future Host Commission, taking the first concrete step in an ambitious plan. The letter was submitted on October 1, according to a source in the sports ministry. "This monumental opportunity could bring substantial benefits, fostering economic growth, social progress, and youth empowerment across the country," the source added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had first talked about his government's aspiration to host the 2036 Olympics last year. A decision on the host will not be taken before the IOC elections next year and India will also have to face competition from several other nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, who are positioning themselves as strong contenders to host the sporting spectacle. India's plan has been backed by current IOC head Thomas Bach. The last time India host

IOA doesn't pay heed to suggestions: Athletes' Commission chief Mary Kom

Boxing great M C Mary Kom, who is also the chairperson of IOA's athletes' commission, says she has stopped giving suggestions to the National Olympic Committee as it doesn't pay attention to them. Mary Kom were among 10 elite sportspersons who were elected on the IOA athletes' commission back in November 2022. The IOA is currently witnessing intense infighting with a section of the office-bearers questioning the governance of president P T Usha, who has denied all allegations against her. "I am not into the IOA functioning. We shared so many things with IOA but they don't listen to it. I have a voice but they don't listen to what I suggest. I don't know politics and I don't want to blame anyone," Mary Kom told PTI when asked about the ongoing power struggle in the IOA. The boxers returned without a medal from the Paris Olympics and Mary Kom was terribly disappointed at that outcome. The 41-year-old lamented that nobody in the Boxing Federation of India sought her help ahead of the

IOC withholds Olympic Solidarity fund for IOA amid internal conflict

The infighting in the IOA has prompted the International Olympic Committee to withhold the Indian body's share of the Olympic Solidarity grants meant for athlete development programmes, triggering a fresh war of words between its embattled President P T Usha and treasurer Sahdev Yadav. The IOC took the decision in its Executive Board meeting on October 8 and communicated it to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in a letter on Friday. "There are obvious ongoing internal disputes and governance issues facing the IOA, including a number of reciprocal allegations which have been raised within the Executive Council," said the letter sent to Usha and Executive Council members by James MacLeod, NOC Relations and Olympic Solidarity Director. "This situation creates a lot of uncertainty and needs clarification and therefore, until further notice, the IOC and Olympic Solidarity will not make any payments to the IOA, except for direct payments to athletes benefiting from Olympic ...

IOA feud: Usha calls SGM to address corruption charge against treasurer

Embattled Indian Olympic Association President P T Usha has called a Special General Meeting of the body on October 25 to address contentious issues, including the appointment of CEO Raghuram Iyer, complaints of corruption against treasurer Sahdev Yadav and the alleged ineligibility of some Executive Council members to hold office. Usha has been at loggerheads with a majority of EC members on all these issues. Iyer's appointment is the most talked about issue as it is being aggressively resisted by EC members on account of his pay package and suitability for the job. "All these issues are extraordinary and emergent in nature and require the participation of the House so that an effective decision is taken...In this regard I am convening a Special General Meeting of the IOA to be held on 25th October 2024 at the IOA Bhawan at 11AM," the sprint great wrote in an email to office-bearers and other stakeholders. "The SGM shall be a hybrid meeting as per Article 8.3 of the Constitution of

12 EC members write to IOC accusing IOA chief PT Usha for 'autocracy'

The feud between Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha and revolting Executive Council members took another ugly turn after a dozen of them shot off a letter to senior IOC official Jerome Poivey accusing the legendary athlete of running the organization in an "autocratic" manner. During Thursday's meeting, there was a bitter confrontation during the IOA meeting where the embattled Usha outrightly rejected their appeal of removing Raghuram Iyer from CEO's post. In a letter to Poivey, the head of Institutional Relations and Governance at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who attended the stormy IOA Executive Council meeting via video-conference, the 12 EC members said they want the the national body to be governed "democratically". Usha, on her part, has already said that the appointment of Iyer was done by strictly adhering to the IOA constitution in an EC meeting on January 5, which was video-graphed, and there was no reason to backtrack from that decision. Th

Vinesh & her team responsible for weight cut, not IOA medical team: PT Usha

Drawing criticism for Vinesh Phogat's weigh-in fiasco, Indian Olympic Association president PT Usha on Sunday made it clear that it is the responsibility of the athlete to manage their weight and the attack on its medical team, especially Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala is "unacceptable and worthy of condemnation." The 29-year-old Vinesh was left heartbroken after she was disqualified ahead of her gold-medal bout in freestyle 50kg for being 100gm overweight in the morning weigh-in, crushing her Olympic dreams and prompting her to announce her retirement. The incident started a blame game, also leading to an uproar in the Parliament, with some sections attacking Dr Pardiwala and his team for negligence with former IOA chief Narendra Batra indicating that Vinesh's diet might have had something to do with her disqualification. "...the responsibility of weight management of athletes in sport like wrestling, weightlifting, boxing and judo is that of each athlete and his or he

Harish Salve to represent IOA in Vinesh Phogat's CAS hearing today

Salve's expertise will be crucial in addressing the legal and procedural aspects of the dispute

Olympics 2024: IOA releases list of 117 athletes, 140 support staff

India will be represented by 117 athletes at this month's Paris Olympics after the sports ministry cleared the final contingent that also features 140 support staff and officials, of which 72 "have been approved at cost to the Government" to meet the "requirements" of the travelling sportspersons. The only qualified athlete missing from the list is shot putter Abha Khatua. Khatua, who qualified through world rankings quota, has been dropped without any explanation after her name was found missing from the World Athletics' list of Olympic participants a few days ago. "The permissible limit for stay of support personnel in the Games Village against accreditation as per norms of the Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic Games is 67 including 11 1OA Contingent Officials, which includes five Medical Team Members," stated a letter from the ministry to the Indian Olympic Association President P T Usha. "For catering to the requirements of the athletes, additional coaches and oth

All Olympics-bound athletes, including Neeraj Chopra, fit: IOA CMO

Renowned sports medicine expert Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala on Sunday said that all the Indian athletes participating in the Paris Olympics, including ace javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, were "fit enough" to perform on the big stage when the quadrennial showpiece gets underway on July 26. Pardiwala, the chief medical officer (CMO) of the nearly 120-strong Indian contingent for the Paris Games, added that his 13-member team will render the best possible medical assistance to the contingent in the areas of injury management, sports nutrition, mental conditioning, sports massage, recovery and sleep. "All the athletes that are going for the Olympics are fit right now. Some athletes will have minor niggles here and there. I am not going to be discussing any specific injuries to any athlete that they've had in the past, but all of them who are there are there because they are going to be capable and they're gonna be fit enough to perform," he said. Pardiwala has treated some of the top athletes,

IOA ropes in BPCL as Principal Sponsor from Paris 2024 to LA 2028 Olympics

As part of this collaboration, BPCL will launch a series of campaigns designed to support and uplift the Indian contingent heading to Paris

YES Bank partners with Indian Olympic Association for Paris Olympics 2024

The bank also unveiled the 'YES Glory' savings account proposition, extending benefits to athletes and their immediate family members

IOA CEO appointment: 12 EC members allege President Usha "exerted pressure"

Around a dozen of Executive Council (EC) members of Indian Olympic Association alleged that president P.T.Usha "exerted pressure" on them to pave the way for Raghu Iyer's appointment as CEO, a charge that the legendary athlete termed "shameful". Usha had issued an official statement on January 6 about the appointment of Iyer as CEO but 12 out of 15 EC members said that former Rajasthan Royals' chief executive's recruitment "hasn't been ratified" by the apex body. "... you did not list the appointment of the CEO in the agenda circulated for our previous EC meeting. While introducing the matter into the agenda unilaterally, you tried to exert pressure on us to make a rushed and hasty decision," a letter dated January 14 and signed by 12 members of EC, stated. "We found the manner in which you conducted the proceedings to inappropraite and not befitting of our institution." The letter was signed by all the EC members except for Usha, herself, Olympic medallist Mary Kom and ace paddle

WFI to go ahead with EC meeting, set to ratify decisions taken during AGM

The suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will go ahead with its Executive Committee meeting here on Tuesday and has vowed not to budge from its decision of hosting the national championships despite the sports ministry issuing a warning against it. The notice for the Executive Committee was issued on December 31 and most state associations are expected to attend. It is expected the members will ratify the decisions taken during the General Council meeting of the WFI on December 21, hours after the new office bearers were elected. The WFI had announced that it will conduct Nationals in Pune from January 29-31, prompting the sports ministry to say that the federation has no authority to conduct the Senior National Championships and any event staged by the body will be considered "unsanctioned" and "unrecognised". "We are going ahead with the meeting. I am expecting all affiliated units to attend the meeting. We will not step back. The decision to host the Nationals was taken

Sports ministry says it won't recognise events organised by suspended WFI

The Sports Ministry on Sunday said the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has no authority to conduct the Senior National Championships and any event staged by the body will be considered "unsanctioned" and "unrecognised". Three days after the WFI held its polls last month, the Ministry had suspended the sports body citing several violations of rules and then the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) formed a three-member ad-hoc panel to manage the federation's day-to-day affairs. However, a defiant Sanjay Singh, President of the suspended WFI, said that they will soon organise the national championships and insisted that they neither recognise the suspension of the newly-elected body nor the ad-hoc panel. "It has come to the notice of the Ministry that you have issued a Circular bearing No. WFI/Senior National/Maharashtra/2024 dated 06.01.2024 on the letterhead of the Wrestling Federation of India regarding conduct of Senior National Wrestling Championship 2023 at Pune ...

IOA cannot exercise control over WFI, UWW should lift ban: WFI chief

The WFI has reminded United World Wrestling that as per the international body's rules and the IOC charter, the Indian Olympic Association "cannot exercise any control" on the newly-elected body, and asked the UWW to immediately lift the provisional suspension it imposed in August last year. The newly-elected Wrestling Federation of India chief Sanjay Singh, whose body was suspended by the sports ministry three days after it came to power and an IOA ad-hoc panel was re-instituted to run the sport, in his letter to UWW president Nenad Lalovic has also said that any influence by the IOA in wrestling should be deemed "illegal" by UWW. "Pursuant to the election, the newly-elected body has taken charge of the WFI and is managing its affairs, and we await the lifting of the provisional suspension imposed by the UWW," said Sanjay Singh in his letter to Lalovic on Friday, a copy of which is with PTI. "We understand that we continue to be an affiliated member of the UWW. However, there is a

IOA asks Randhir to continue as OCA's acting president, will helm Asiad

India's veteran sports administrator Randhir Singh will be in charge of the Olympic Council of Asia during the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou, China after the International Olympic Committee refused to recognise the recent election at OCA. The IOA has asked Randhir to continue discharging his duties as the acting president of the OCA. The IOC wrote to Randhir, a former secretary general of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and an ex-IOA member, after banning Kuwait's Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah for three years over his alleged involvement in the recent OCA elections in Bangkok, where the latter's brother Sheikh Talal Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was appointed president of the top continental sports body by 24 votes to 20. But the IOC, on the recommendation of its ethics commission, refused to recognise Sheikh Ahmad's election to the OCA president's post and launched an investigation into the polls. A former OPEC secretary-general, Sheikh Ahmad was already suspended as a member o

Time for filing objections to IOA's draft constitution extended by 2 weeks

The Supreme Court Monday extended by two more weeks the time for filing objections to the draft constitution of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) framed by former apex court judge Justice L Nageswara Rao. The top court also made it clear that the pendency of the pleas related to IOA will not preclude high courts from continuing with the hearing on pending petitions related to other sports bodies. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra asked Additional Solicitor General K M Natraj, appearing for the Centre, to collate the objections and the suggestions and give them to the parties concerned to the case. The bench said it will hear on August 11 the pleas related to the IOA and the All India Football Federation. Earlier, the top court had directed the Centre to collate the objections put forth by the stake-holders to the draft constitution of the IOA along with suggestions in three weeks. The draft constitution was adopted at the Specia