PT Usha getting NSFs back on track

Tribune News Service

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, December 4

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha has quietly sprung a surprise on seemingly more influential members of the executive council. Usha, who took over the top post uncontested last December, was projected as a rubber-stamp leader as many including senior vice-president Ajay Patel and joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey were to be the real brains behind the body.

However, in the past few months, Usha, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, has quietly turned the tables on them and has surprised many within the IOA fold. Usha has not only thwarted an attempt of a takeover of Ski & Snowboard India, in which two of the current IOA executive members Yogeshwar Dutt and Rohit Rajpal were involved. She has also set her sights on cleaning the mess of infighting in various national sports federations (NSFs).

Interestingly, Dutt and Rajpal still got involved in the Ski & Snowboard India elections, despite the existence of an ad hoc body headed by six-time winter Olympian Shiva Keshawan. Shiva was appointed by Usha in October after infighting began over funds between secretary general Mohammad Arshad and Roop Chand Negi.

Arshad’s faction held an election on November 15, in which Dutt was elected as the president, and where Rajpal officiated as an IOA observer.

Usha met a delegation of the Ski & Snowboard India affiliates from Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh on Sunday and assured them that the IOA will back the right people in the sport.

Similarly, Usha is dealing with the issues in All-India Chess Federation and curling sports associations, in which two federations exist — Curling Association of India and Curling Federation of India. Usha, without going into the details, said that the good governance principles have to be applied not only on the IOA as a body but also within the federation set-up.

“The very purpose of the Honourable Supreme Court wanting changes in the IOA constitution was based on the premise of good governance principles. Whilst we have made the required changes in the IOA, there is much needed to be done at the federation level to ensure there is no infighting and multiple federations cropping up,” Usha told The Tribune.

“Our aim is to protect the interests of the athletes and I request all sports administrators to focus on that rather than on power struggles within the federations,” she added.

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