Don't Spoil Sport: Suresh Kalmadi, do you really care about the sportspersons?
The genesis of the current crisis in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has everything to do with Suresh Kalmadi. It was only after Kalmadi's role in the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam was exposed that the cracks within the IOA began to surface. Don't Spoil Sport with Abhinav Bindra | Sushil Kumar | Rajyavardhan Rathore
The genesis of the current crisis in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has everything to do with Suresh Kalmadi. It was only after Kalmadi's role in the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam was exposed that the cracks within the IOA began to surface.
The International Olympic Committee (IOA) directed the IOA to keep Kalmadi out of its day-to-day affairs. Kalmadi stepped aside in January 2011 and that is when the tussle to seek power among the IOA officials began.
Kalmadi took over as president of the IOA in 1996 and reigned over the apex sports body in the country until the IOC's directive which was a result of his alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games scam, where he was the chairman of the Organising
Committee. A Delhi court framed charges against Kalmadi that included cheating, conspiring and causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the exchequer during the Commonwealth Games.
Since 1996, Kalmadi was elected president of the IOA unopposed and the only time he was challenged was in 2000 whenAbhay Singh Chautala decided to take him on in the elections.
But Kalmadi had the votes and Chautala could not muster enough support to overthrow him. As a sports administrator, Kalmadi wore many hats which included the president of the Asian Athletics Association, chairman of the Delhi Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, life president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), among others.
The interest of sportspersons was just not a priority for Kalmadi and the power hungry Pune strongman kept a stranglehold on the IOA through some of his close aideslike Lalit Bhanot, who dictated each and everything that happened in the AFI.
The government funds training of sportspersons in the country but Kalmadi never enjoyed a healthy relationship with any of the sports ministers during his reign as the IOA chief.
He led the IOA against the proposed National Sports Development Bill in 2010, which would have shut the door on him and many others.
Kalmadi may have gone but the coterie which he led is still active and has been responsible for getting IOA suspended. The brazen officials have dared to challenge the IOC and the Sports Ministry, thinking little about the athletes who have not been able to compete under the national flag since the December 4, 2012 suspension.
The dominating faction in IOA still enjoys Kalmadi's blessings and influence and he was even present at a party thrown by Abhay Singh Chautala after he was elected president of the suspended IOA on December 5, 2012.
While Kalmadi has been thrown out of every sports body that he was part of, he continues to have a say on a lot of issues that have put the IOA in such a state.