Damn these federations

In a year where sporting activity in India has been ravaged by the Novel Corona virus and Covid-19 cases, it has been fascinating to see National Sports Federations fighting tooth and nail to save their own chairs.

Usually, at this time of the year, one thinks about sporting action which has been completed and who was/were the best in it. Sadly, if there is  a prize this time among officials for bad conduct, there are many claimants.

Since the time there have been exchanges in various courts of law and NSFs have been hauled over the coals, there has been a lot of tear-shedding. For its part, the Big Daddy of Indian sport, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport, has also played games.

If at the start of it all, bang in mid-summer during the raging pandemic it appeared the Sports Ministry was going to be strict with errant federations, we have been proved wrong.

Buoyed by the Supreme Court saying the Sports Ministry could give recognition to NSFs, which of course can come under scrutiny in a lower court, matters again took a turn. The Sports Ministry showed it was the boss, granting recognition to NSFs in batches.

Amidst all this wrangling, there were a few federations which continued to be arrogant, refuse to follow the NSDC 2011 (National Sports Code) and still get away with it. The Equestrian Federation of India takes the cake for it.

An NSF governed by Faujis showed they will tear the rule book prescribed by the NSDC and do what they wish. It has been thanks to people still fighting it out in the Delhi High Court, the EFI is still in check. If not, Generals would come and go, become president of the EFI and walk away with one more achievement in their bio-data.

Of course, now, the EFI is on a tight leash and their machinations to bring in one more QMG (Quarter Master General) as president has been stalled. The worst part is the EFI refuses to learn. They were recently given one year extension of recognition (wrongly of course) and asked to  fall in line with the Sports Code.

No, instead they chose to approach the court and wanted yet again the QMG and DGST (Director General Supplies and Transport) to be back as president and vice president. It is interesting how the EFI wanted a president back to select teams for the Asian Games! At a time when there are still doubts over the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the EFI has been exposed.

They have, in the past, manipulated selections for the Asian Games and the latest excuse is a poor one. They do not want to elect a president but select one.  They do not want to govern but rule as if they are The Lords.

The fight will continue and Honourable Courts of India are well seized of the EFI being over-smart, cunning and wanting to enrol members from dog units and what not!

It has also been fascinating to see the Boxing  Federation of India, headed by Ajay Singh, trying to  stall the elections. Well after the election process had been set in motion, they chose to seek postponement of the elections stating Covid-19 raging cases in Delhi.

It is laughable the BFI did not know that bigger elections to the assembly were held in Bihar and smaller elections in other states like Telangana recently. The BFI current set of office bearers knew matters were not going their way once politician from Maharashtra Ashish Shelar threw his hat into the ring.

They suddenly felt Shelar could rock their boat and they sought postponement of the elections. It is well known the BFI elections should have been completed by December 31 this year. The same was done by the Athletics Federation of India,  Hockey India, All India Tennis Association and a few more.

On Friday, the Delhi High Court came down heavily on the BFI. They will now hold their meeting (AGM) on December 24. The court has asked them to explore possibilities of e-voting and submit the roadmap for elections by January 10, 2021.

Meanwhile, we have a “top” federation called the AIFF (football) which is in no mood to hold elections. The Indian Golf Union will also hold elections this month.

Sadly, everyone is talking now about governance and not performance. If this is what we expected after the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, it is simply shocking.

Nobody knows about performances of athletes and what is happening to random dope testing in India. Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, the Big Daddy, is happy with his daily photo ops. Long live Indian sport.