Indian Olympic Association

Indian Olympic Association
भारतीय ओलम्पिक संघ

Indian Olympic Association भारतीय ओलम्पिक संघ logo
Country/Region	India
Code	IND
Created	1924
Recognized	1924
Continental Association	OCA
Headquarters	New Delhi
President	Narayana Ramachandran as of 9 February 2014
Secretary General	Rajeev Mehta as of 9 February 2014
Website	olympic.ind.in

The Indian Olympic Association (Hindi: भारतीय ओलम्पिक संघ) is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams at the events. It also acts as the Indian Commonwealth Games Association, responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Commonwealth Games.^[1]

Early History

Indian Olympic Association, 1950s:
Top Row, l to r: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7-Basir Ali Sheikh, 8 - Stanley de Noronha, 9, 10, 11
Middle Row, l to r: 1- Nalini Ranjan Sarker?, 2- Kamal Kumar?, 3, 4, 5, 6- Sohrab Bhoot, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-M.S. Ahluwalia?
Seated, l to r: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5-President Maharaja of Patiala, 6- S.M. Moinul Haq, 7 - B. L. Rallia Ram, 8,9- G D Sondhi?

Background and early years: The background behind the creation of the Indian Olympic Association was related to India’s participation in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. In 1923, the All India Olympic Games (that later became the National Games of India) were held, and a provisional All India Olympic Committee was formed. Eight athletes from these games were selected to represent India at the 1924 Paris Olympics, along with manager Harry Crowe Buck. This gave impetus to the development and institutionalization of sports in India, and, in 1927, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), was created at the initiative of Harry Crowe Buck and Dr. A. G. Noehren (both of the Madras (YMCA) college of Physical Education). Sir Dorab Tata was important in financing and supporting the movement and became the first Indian Olympic Association president in 1927. Messrs Buck and Noehren travelled across India and helped many states organize their olympic associations. Noehren was the first Secretary and G. D. Sondhi was the first assistant secretary of the IOA, and, after Noehren resigned in 1938, Sondhi and S.M. Moinul Haq became the Secretary and Joint Secretary of the IOA.

And so the Indian Olympic Association was formed in 1927, and since that year has been the body officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as India's national Olympic organisation. In 1928, Sir Dorab Tata was replaced as IOA president by Maharaja Bhupindra Singh.

Early Tasks:

• Sending Teams: In its first decade, the Indian Olympic Association selected sportspersons to represent India at the Olympic Games in 1928, 1932, and 1936. Subsequently, by 1946-47, the Indian Olympic Association took responsibility only to send the Indian team to the Olympics (principally, this meant arranging transport, board, and accommodation), while the separate National Sports Federations for each sport were responsible for selecting and training competitors for their sport. Reflecting this, ahead of the 1948 Olympics, the IOA Council agreed that a team representing athletics, swimming, weight lifting, wrestling, boxing, football, and hockey, with officials for each of these sports, and a Chief Manager, would be entered for the 1948 Olympics. And so, from 1948 onward, India began sending teams representing several sports – each selected by its respective sports federation – to the Olympics.
• Securing Funding: One of the Indian Olympic Association’s main early challenges was to secure funding, so that it could send the national team to the Olympics and finance the related costs of transport, room, and board. It obtained funding from the Indian government, from the state governments, and from various state sports federations.

The Indian Olympic Association thus undertook wider outreach with the national sports federations, and essentially became a clearing house that coordinated the sending of multiple sports teams – each selected by their respective sports federations – to the Olympics.

• The National Games: The Indian Olympic Association had one other major responsibility: that of holding the biennial National Games (Indian Olympics). It recognised, in the 1920s-1940s, that the promotion of sports in India needed a National Games, because there was no overall National sports federation of India. Instead, there were separate national sports federations for each sport, such as athletics, swimming, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, weightlifting, cycling, boxing, football. These national federations essentially held their national championships at the Indian National Games.

Recent History

On 4 December 2012, the International Olympic Committee suspended the IOA on the basis of corruption, government interference, and not following guidelines of the IOC. Several members of the IOA have been charged with crimes.^[2] The IOA was formally banned for not following the Olympic Charter in their elections, instead following the Indian government's Sports Code. The IOA held elections under the Indian Sports Code due to a directive from the Delhi High Court.^[3] On 15 May 2013, International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to lift the ban on the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as Indian representatives from the government and sports bodies reached an agreement with IOC officials.^[4] India still did not have its three competitors play under the national flag at the 2014 Olympics. On 9 February, an election was held to choose a head of the IOA. Abhay Singh Chautala and Lalit Bhanot were ineligible due to having a court charge against them. The President of the World Squash Federation Narayana Ramachandran was instead elected.^[5]

Governing committee

Since 26 April 2011, after the arrest of its president Suresh Kalmadi; Vijay Kumar Malhotra was the acting president of the IOA up to 5, December, 2012.^[6] The current President, Secretary General and treasurer of the IOA are N. Ramachandran, Rajeev Mehta and Anil Khanna respectively. The election of Lalit Bhanot was considered controversial by some due to his alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games Scam.^[7] The International Olympic Committee suspended India's National Olympic committee on 4 December 2012 because of government interference in its election process.^[8] On 11 February 2014, the International Olympic Committee revoked the ban enforced on Indian Olympic Association. As a result, India returned to the Olympic fold after 14-months.^[9]

2020 and 2028 Summer Olympic bids

In 2007 Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi said that Delhi would bid for the 2020 Olympics.^[10] However, in 2009 sports minister Manohar Singh Gill said that India would not bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games even if it organized a successful 2010 Commonwealth Games.^[11] Instead they will bid for 2028.^[12]

Presidents of the IOA

1. Sir Dorabji Tata 1927-1928
2. Maharaja Bhupindra Singh 1928-1938.
3. Maharaja Yadavindra Singh 1938-1960. (Elder Son of Maharaja Bhupindra Singh)
4. Bhalindra Singh 1960-1975. {1st Term} (Younger Son of Maharaja Bhupindra Singh)
5. Om Prakash Mehra 1976-1980.
6. Bhalindra Singh 1980-1984. (2nd Term)
7. Vidya Charan Shukla 1984-1987.
8. Sivanthi Adithan, 1987-1996.
9. Suresh Kalmadi, 1996–2012 (Suspended)
   1. Vijay Kumar Malhotra 2012 (Acting)
10. Suresh Kalmadi, 2012 (Re-instated)
11. Abhay Singh Chautala, 5 December 2012 – 9 February 2014
12. Narayana Ramachandran, 9 February 2014 - Till date

See also

• Paralympic Committee of India

References

External links

• ^ Indian Olympic Association, International Olympic Committee web site maintained by the IOC, accessed 2005-04-02
• Official website
• "India chases ultimate Olympic glory" - CNN.com article dated 25 April 2002
• Olympic 2020-Delhi Orkut Community