Indian Olympic Association’s ban, a wake-up call for India:

It was quite a depressing sight to watch the three Indian athletes walk without a flag to represent them in the Sochi Olympics that started on February 7^th of this year. To see the Indian Olympic Association letting this happen was an even sadder sight. The Indian Olympics Association was quite cheeky to not follow the rules of the International Olympic Committee charter with regard to the elections that were held in December 2012. They being banned by the IOC, is a good move, a move which will wake them from the stupor of power and give them a reality check, a check that told them not everything they do will go unnoticed or be accepted.

The International Olympic Committee was quite right in not accepting the elections that were conducted by the IOA. Lalith Bahnot who was elected the president according to the IOA elections had criminal charges of corruption against him in the Commonwealth Games Scam and the IOC was right in its decision to not acknowledge the decision taken by the IOA.

The IOA and the Indian Sports Ministry have always been at logger heads and there has always been a love-hate relationship between the two of them. The IOA, in the 2012 elections, chose to go with the mandate of the sports ministry, clearly indicating that it would follow the rules which will favour them.

In the end, we were finally able to see some consensus between the IOA and IOC with re-elections being held in the IOA according to the charter of the IOC. Their ban was lifted after the IOC was satisfied with their election procedure and the results.

The President of the IOA now is N.Ramachandran, brother of N.Srinivasan. The thought of Srinivasan’s power extending to his brother and they ruling the sports fraternity not only in India but all over the world is a scary thought..