New Delhi, July 24: Ending a lengthy feud, the Indian Olympic Association’s Executive Council on Thursday ratified the appointment of CEO Raghuram Iyer and set up a panel to tackle doping after India’s poor record was flagged by the IOC during a national delegation’s visit to push for the 2036 Olympic bid.
The EC members had refused to ratify Iyer’s appointment made by President P T Usha in January 2024, the bone of contention being his Rs 20 lakh per month salary along with other perks.
However, the differences on this matter were resolved following Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s intervention, paving the way for Iyer’s formal appointment.
“Everything is sorted out, that is why the CEO (Iyer) is sitting with me. Otherwise he would not have been sitting with me here,” Usha said at a press conference at the IOA headquarters with Iyer at her side.
“It will now be very smooth functioning going ahead. Otherwise also, there was no break in IOA functioning. We did very well in the Paris Olympics and the Asian Games. We also conducted two National Games,” said Usha, who had a bitter and frosty relationship with 12 EC members in the last more than two years.
IOA joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey informed that executive council meeting on Thursday ratified Iyer’s appointment.
However, it is learnt that the salary package of Iyer is likely to be negotiated.
“He should not get too less but also not this high. His salary is a bit high by Indian standards, as compared to officials of CEO level in NSFs,” an official said on conditions of anonymity.
All the other executive council members, except for Bhupinder Singh Bajwa, Rajlaxmi Deo and Mary Kom, were present.
IOA to tackle doping menace
The seven-member anti-doping panel will be headed by non-playing Davis Cup captain Rohit Rajpal and includes Aparna Popat and sports medicine expert PSM Chandran among others.
“The IOC (International Olympic Committee) mentioned high doping cases in India when IOA (delegation) visited Lausanne,” said Iyer.
The IOA delegation to Lausanne last month included sports secretary Hari Ranjan Rao, Usha and Gujarat Sports Minister Harsh Sanghavi among others. India is bidding to host the 2036 Games in Ahmedabad.
India had last month topped the World Anti-Doping Agency’s 2023 testing figures among countries which analysed 5,000 or more samples with a high positivity rate of 3.8 per cent for banned substances.
Rajpal said drug paddlers who are pushing and selling supplements or performance enhancing drugs in open market will be dealt with strongly. (PTI)
