India Olympic sports mired in scandals- The New Indian Express

The worst will not be an exaggeration while describing the phase Indian sports (Olympic sports, of course) is going through at the moment. It has plunged into one of those abysses where clawing back will take a humongous effort. It is mired in scandals, court cases, suspensions, harassment charges and allegations of bias in team selections.

The past week or so had been tumultuous, to say the least. The cycling team that was training in Slovenia was called back after a female cyclist Leveled charges of sexual harassment against its chief national Coach. One of the members of the Womens sailing team training in Germany had said her Coach was making her uncomfortable. The Yachting Association of India conducted an inquiry and submitted the report to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to whom the sailor had addressed her grievances. The cycling national Coach was dismissed after SAI found him guilty.

Just a couple of days before these two unsavory allegations, the Delhi HC had asked the sports ministry to suspend and stop funding those National Sports Federations for non-compliance with the sports code. According to the petitioner and senior advocate, Rahul Mehra, all except one or two NSFs do not comply with the sports code. On June 10, the Delhi HC heard a case involving table tennis players who alleged discrepancies in the selection process of the 2022 Commonwealth Games team. One of the players, Diya Chitale, was included after the Table Tennis Federation of India, run by a court-appointed Committee of Administrators, made a U-turn. The CoA itself was underintense scrutiny.

With around six weeks left for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, there is no clue who would be chalking out the final list ofathletes and officials for the Games. With NSFs suspended (by ministry and not international Federations), there is a lack of clarity as tohow the government would clear the officials accompanying the teams. Players should not beaffected but there is a lack of clarity. Thelast date of Submission of Athletes names is in a few days. The clock is ticking but one wondersif anybody is even listening to it right now.