Rift widens as CEO appointment issue stalls IOA’s executive meeting

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, March 28

The disagreement between Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha and the executive committee members over the appointment of Raghuram Iyer as the body’s CEO is far from getting resolved. In fact, the relationship between the president and the members has only become more fractious.

The emergency meeting of the executive committee called to decide on the change of the name of the bank signatory ended without a compromise. The executive — treasurer Sahdev Yadav, vice-presidents Rajlaxmi Singh Deo and Gagan Narang, and executive council members Yogeshwar Dutt, Amitabh Sharma, Bhupender Singh Bajwa and Lt Gen (retd) Harpal Singh — stalled the meeting over Iyer’s appointment.

It all started with the majority opposing videography at the meeting, insisting that it was wrong. The next objection was over IOA director George Mathew writing the minutes as they insisted that Sharma has been tasked with the job.

The contention from the opposing members was that since Iyer’s appointment was rejected there was no point in discussing the change of the bank signatory, which would mean giving all powers to the CEO.

However, Usha did not budge on the issue and insisted that Iyer’s appointment was done by a fair process.

Chef de mission selection

Another issue that all but ended the meeting was the announcement of Mary Kom as the chef de mission for the Paris Olympics, with Shiva Keshavan chosen as her deputy. As was in the case of Iyer’s appointment, their contention was that none within the executive committee was consulted.

Table Tennis ace Sharath Kamal being named as the flagbearer for the Olympics was also questioned. However, Usha made it clear that the appointments were fair, adding that in Keshavan’s case, the luger has a good working relationship with the International Olympic Committee and was suited to put forward IOA’s point of view.

Interestingly, the appointments were not part of the agenda items that were to be discussed in today’s meeting. In all, there were eight items to be discussed — including the change of the signatory, the preparation status for the Paris Games and the IOA’s affiliation policy — but most could not be discussed because of the standoff over the CEO’s appointment. In the end, the opposing members only confirmed the minutes of the meeting that was held in Goa in October and chose not to confirm today’s agenda.