The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has been urged by IOC to address the problem affecting the nation’s wrestling federation by “working closely” with the sport’s international governing body. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has also expressed concern over the IOA’s “unfortunate” delay in appointing a CEO/secretary-general.
IOC recieved information on the situations of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of Afghanistan, Guatemala, and India on Wednesday. In addition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made the stern statement during its executive board meeting.
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“NOC of India has been directed on many occasions to finalise the appointment process of the new CEO/Secretary General without any further delay, in accordance with the NOC Constitution, so as to normalise the situation within the NOC.”
“Unfortunately, the NOC has yet to complete this process. The IOC continues to monitor this issue,” an IOC statement read.
In order to resolve concerns affecting India’s sports federations, including the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), the IOC has also requested the IOA to coordinate with international sports federations.
Top wrestlers from India, including Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik as well as Asian Games champion Vinesh Phogat, led a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in the past two months calling for the arrest of outgoing WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The protesting wrestlers claim that Brij Bhushan has harassed female wrestlers sexually.
“The NOC of India has been requested to liaise and work closely with the International Federations in order to address a number of ongoing issues affecting Indian Sports Federations, in a coordinated manner and in accordance with the rules and directives of the International Federations concerned.”
“This includes, in particular, the situation of the Wrestling Federation in India,” said IOC.
The IOC confirmed the 2023 IOC session will be held in Mumbai in March of this year, but also called attention to the IOA’s failure to name a CEO at that time.
The IOA was required to name a CEO who would carry out the duties of the former secretary-general within a month of taking control of the new executive council, which was headed by IOA President and former sprinter PT Usha, in accordance with the new constitution created by the Supreme Court-appointed panel and approved by the IOC. On December 10, the new IOA council took over, although it has been more than seven months since the NOC has named a CEO.
Kalyan Chaubey, the secretary-general of the IOA, has been carrying out the CEO’s duties. The CEO shall be a non-voting ex-officio member of the IOA Executive Council.
Usha stated in March that although the IOA had established criteria for the hiring of the CEO, only one candidate had been deemed deserving of the position. She had stated that she required additional applications and that the IOA would re-post the position for application.
The candidate must meet one of the requirements for the position of CEO, which is that they must be a “management professional with experience of no less than 10 years as the CEO of a company/entity with an annual turnover of no less than Rs 25 crore.” The CEO must also be nominated by a committee made up of the IOA president, the head of the athletes’ commission, and an Indian member of the International Olympic Committee, according to Article 15.3 of the updated IOA constitution.
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