INDIA: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated on Thursday that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) faces the possibility of being barred from the Olympic Games by December if the governance and election issues are not resolved.
The IOC Executive Board also chose to move the date of its session from Mumbai, India, in May 2023 to September or October.
Elections for the IOA were supposed to take place in December of last year, but they have been postponed due to a legal dispute about whether to amend the organization’s charter to comply with the national sports code.
The IOC stated that the problems needed to be fixed by the time of its session in December, failing which it would ban the IOA and prevent it from receiving any financing from the IOC, preventing Indian athletes from competing at any Olympics.
The IOC will organise a joint conference with all parties involved later this month in Lausanne, according to a statement from the Olympic organization, “to agree on a constructive solution and develop a roadmap leading to National Olympic Committee (NOC) elections.”
The statement continues, “Given the uncertain situation, the IOC Session due to take place in Mumbai in May 2023, has been postponed until September/October 2023.”
Following elections that resulted in the appointment of a corrupt official to the position of secretary general, the IOA was previously banned at the end of 2012.
Two years later, during the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, the South Asian country made a comeback to the Olympic fold by electing a new slate of officials.
The IOC additionally threatened the National Olympic Committee of Guatemala with a ban the following year if a local legal problem was not settled.
The following summer Olympics will be held in Paris in 2024. Italy’s cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo will host the Winter Olympics in 2026.
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