Indian Olympic Association (IOA) presidential candidate Abhay Singh Chautala feels that his battle with his Randhir Singh will help up clean Indian sports and he will ensure that his rival represent India at the International Olympic Association (IOC).
“On the contrary, it will help clean up Indian sport. Randhir is indulging in dirty politics by trying to create an impression that the IOC can take action against the IOA if certain things -- which can help him in elections -- are not followed. Let the elections be over, I will ensure that Randhir will no more be Indian representative at the IOC. I have the support of more than 80 per centsports federations. History will be created in the elections,” Chautala told DNA in an interview.
Talking about Sports Ministry insistence on following Sport Code for the elections, he said, “On the contrary, it will help clean up Indian sport. Randhir is indulging in dirty politics by trying to create an impression that the IOC can take action against the IOA if certain things -- which can help him in elections -- are not followed. Let the elections be over, I will ensure that Randhir will no more be Indian representative at the IOC. I have the support of more than 80 per centsports federations. History will be created in the elections,” he added.
Talking about Ministry’s objection to his candidature, he said, “There is no doubt that sports ministry’s help is essential. But its objections are baseless. I will give them a suitable reply once the elections are over. Look at the boxing model where we were successful in roping in corporate sector and generated money for the players. This model can be applied in other sports too. I will try and bring in more private sector help into the Olympic sport, so that our dependence on government funds is reduced.”
Meanwhile the Indian Express writes that as the scrutiny of nomination papers for the upcoming Indian Olympics Association (IOA) elections began at the residence of Justice (Retd) VK Bali on Saturday, the candidacy of Randhir Singh, who is standing for the post of president, and K Murugan, set to contest for the secretary general’s post, was the focus.
Objections were raised to Murugan filing nomination papers because of the age-cap violation while Randhir faces the heat because of ambiguity regarding the cooling off period. Both objections as per the national sports code — in the case of both Murugan and Randhir — were raised by the Abhay Singh Chautala camp. In a strongly worded letter to the acting IOA chief Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the IOC chief Jacques Rogge and OCA chief Al Sabah, had made it clear that going through with the election process according to the national sports code would mean a violation of Olympic Charter.