The Hindu : Sport : IOA amends constitution

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Thursday, Dec 21, 2006
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Sport - Sports : General

IOA amends constitution

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: An important constitutional amendment regulating the entry of candidates for the posts of president and secretary-general was carried out unanimously, among several other routine amendments, at the general assembly meeting of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) here on Wednesday.

From now on, only those members who had held the office of the preceding Executive Council for four years would be eligible to contest the elections for the posts of president and secretary-general.

"This is a clear attempt to prevent opposing candidates from contesting elections since you cannot become a council member unless the ruling clique supports you," said a member, who preferred anonymity.

The IOA has argued that it had brought in constitutional amendments to fall in line with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

President's powers

The clause regarding the president's powers to sanction expenditure was also amended. He will from now on be authorised to sanction an expenditure of Rs. one lakh (up from Rs 10,000) for a single item and up to Rs. 50 lakh (up from Rs 50,000) to be regularised by the Executive.

There was no move to bring in an anti-doping rule or at least a reference to the WADA Code in the constitution, in complete defiance of the World Anti Doping Agency's regulations, two years after accepting the Code and amidst rampant doping in Indian sports.

The meeting "appreciated the performance" of the Indian teams in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, South Asian Games in Colombo, the Indoor Asian Games in Bangkok and the Doha Asian Games.

Hockey debacle

There was no mention of the hockey debacle in Doha. Many observers had felt that there would at least be a mention of the miserable show in men's hockey amidst the routine manner in which performances at major games are dismissed at such meetings, but that did not happen.

The National Games in Guwahati would be held from February 9 to 18, it was confirmed. The 34th National Games would be held in Ranchi and Jamshedpur in January-February 2008.

The following federations were accorded affiliation: Billiards and Snooker Federation of India, Squash Rackets Federation of India and Wushu Federation of India. Seven other federations including the All India Chess Federation were given recognition.

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