Indian Olympic Association
|
Indian Olympic Association भारतीय ओलम्पिक संघ logo | |
| Country/Region |
 India |
|---|---|
| Code | IND |
| Created | 1927 |
| Recognized | 1927 |
| Continental Association | OCA |
| Headquarters | New Delhi, India |
| President | N Ramachandran |
| Secretary General | Rajeev Mehta |
| Website | www.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
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. After the 1920 Games, the committee sending the team to these games met, and, on the advice of Sir Dorab Tata, invited Dr. Noehren (Physical Education Director of YMCA India) to be secretary, along with AS Bhagwat, of the provisional Indian Olympic Committee; Dorab Tata would serve as its president. Subsequently, in 1923-24, a provisional All India Olympic Committee was formed, and the All India Olympic Games (that later became the National Games of India) were held in Feb 1924. Eight athletes from these games were selected to represent India at the 1924 Paris Olympics, accompanied by 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).[2] 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 organise their Olympic associations. Noehren was the first Secretary and G. D. Sondhi was the first assistant secretary of the Indian Olympic Association, and, after Noehren resigned in 1938, Sondhi and S.M. Moinul Haq became the Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Indian Olympic Association.
And so the Indian Olympic Association was formed in 1927, and since that year was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as India's national Olympic organisation. In 1928, Maharaja Bhupindra Singh took over as Indian Olympic Association president.
Early Tasks:
- Sending Teams to the Olympics: 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 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.
Illustrating this, IOA President Yadavindra Singh's appeal for funding in 1948 stated: "We need about 3 Lacs of rupees to finance" the Indian Olympic team for the London Olympics; that "the youth taking part in these games become ambassadors of goodwill" for India; and that "careful selection, intensive training and proper equipment is most essential" to field a competitive team, but that the Indian Olympic Association is "greatly handicapped for want of sufficient funds" for these tasks.[3]
The Indian Olympic Association thus undertook wider outreach with several 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 federations for each sport, such as athletics, swimming, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, weightlifting, cycling, boxing, football. These sports 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]
IOA Presidents
| S.No. | Name | TenureBold text |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sir Dorabji Tata | 1927-1928 |
| 2. | Maharaja Bhupinder Singh | 1928-1938 |
| 3. | Maharaja Yadavindra Singh | 1938-1960 |
| 4. | Mr. Bhalindra Singh | 1960-1975 |
| 5. | Mr. Om Prakash Mehra | 1976-1980 |
| 6. | Mr. Bhalindra Singh | 1980-1984 |
| 7. | Mr. Vidya Charan Shukla | 1984-1987 |
| 8. | Mr. Sivanthi Adithan | 1987-1996 |
| 9. | Mr. Suresh Kalmadi | 1996-2012 |
| Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra | 2012 (Acting) | |
| 10. | Mr. Suresh Kalmadi | 2012 |
| 11. | Mr. Abhay Singh Chautala | 5 December 2012 – 9 February 2014 |
| 12. | Mr. Narayana Ramachandran | 9 February 2014 - Till date |
13. Mr. #Mohan Chandra Pal
- Indian members of the International Olympic Committee were Dorab Tata (1920-1930), G D Sondhi (1932 to the 1950s), and Raja Bhalindra Singh (since 1947). They served as ambassadors of the International Olympic Committee to the Indian Olympic Association.[8]
IOA Secretary Generals
| S. No. | Name | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dr. A. G. Noehren | until 1938 |
| 2. | Prof. Guru Dutt Sondhi | 1938 onward |
| 3. | Prof. Moin-ul-Haq | 1952 - 1956 |
| 4. | Mr. Ashwini Kumar | |
| 5. | Mr. Pankaj Gupta | |
| 6. | Mr. J. C. Paliwal | |
| 7. | Air Vice-Marshal C. L. Mehta | |
| 8. | Dr. Rohan Lal Anand | |
| 9. | Raja Randhir Singh | 1987 - 2012 |
| 10. | Mr. Lalit Bhanot | 2012 - 2014 |
| 11. | Mr. Rajeev Mehta | 9 February 2014 - Till Date |
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.[9] 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.[10] The International Olympic Committee suspended India's National Olympic committee on 4 December 2012 because of government interference in its election process.[11] 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.[12]
IOA Executive Committee
- President — N Ramachandran
- Sr. Vice-President — Mr. Virendra D. Nanavati
- Vice-Presidents —
Dr. Akhilesh Das
Mr. Birendra Prasad Baishya
Mr. Tarlochan Singh
Mr. G.S. Mander
Mr. Janardan Singh Gehlot
Mr. Parminder Singh Dhindsa
Mr. R. K. Anand
Mr. Anurag Thakur
- Secretary General — Mr. Rajeev Mehta
- Treasurer — Mr. Anil Khanna
- Joint Secretaries —
Mr. Rakesh Gupta
Dr. Surinder Mohan Bali
Raja K. S. Sidhu
Mr. Kuldeep Vats
Mr. Anandeshwar Pandey
Ms. Sunaina Kumari
- Executive Members —
Mr. Bhubneshwar Kalita
Mr. Balbir Singh Kushwaha
Mr. Dhanraj Choudhary
Mr. Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi
Mr. Ajit Banerjee
Mr. Vikram Singh Sisodia
Mr. Avadhesh Kumar
Mr. Namdev Shirgaonkar
Mr. Adhip Das
Mr. Bhupender Singh
State Olympic Associations
- Andaman & Nicobar State Olympic Association
- Andhra Pradesh Olympic Association
- Arunachal Pradesh Olympic Association
- Assam Olympic Association
- West Bengal Olympic Association
- Bihar Olympic Association
- Chandigarh Olympic Association
- Chhattisgarh Olympic Association
- Delhi Olympic Association
- Diu-Daman Olympic Association
- Goa Olympic Association
- Gujarat State Olympic Association
- Haryana Olympic Association
- Himachal Pradesh Olympic Association
- Jammu & Kashmir Olympic Association
- Jharkhand Olympic Association
- Karnataka Olympic Association
- Kerala Olympic Association
- Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association
- Maharashtra Olympic Association
- Manipur Olympic Association
- Meghalaya State Olympic Association
- Mizoram Olympic Association
- Nagaland Olympic Association
- Orrisa Olympic Association
- Pondicherry Olympic Association
- Punjab Olympic Association
- Rajasthan Olympic Association
- Sikkim Olympic Association
- Tamil Nadu Olympic Association
- Olympic Association of Telangana
- Tripura State Olympic Association
- Uttarakhand Olympic Association
- Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association
- Services Sports Control Board
National Sports Federations
National sports federations are categorized in two categories i.e. Olympic Sports and Other Recognized Sports
IOC Permanent Olympic Sports
| Sport | National Federation |
|---|---|
| Aquatics | Swimming Federation of India |
| Archery | Archery Association of India |
| Athletics | Athletics Federation of India |
| Badminton | Badminton Association of India |
| Basketball | Basketball Federation of India |
| Boxing | Indian Amateur Boxing Federation |
| Canoeing | Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Association |
| Cycling | Cycling Federation of India |
| Equestrian | Equestrian Federation of India |
| Fencing | Fencing Association of India |
| Football | All India Football Federation |
| Golf | The Indian Golf Union |
| Gymnastics | Gymnastic Federation of India |
| Handball | Handball Federation of India |
| Hockey | Hockey India |
| Judo | Judo Federation of India |
| Modern Pentathlon | Modern Pentathlon Federation of India |
| Rowing | Rowing Federation of India |
| Rugby | Indian Rugby Football Union |
| Sailing | |
| Shooting | National Rifle Association of India |
| Table Tennis | Table Tennis Federation of India |
| Taekwando | Taekwando Federation of India |
| Tennis | All India Tennis Association |
| Triathlon | Indian Triathlon Federation |
| Volleyball | Volleyball Federation of India |
| Weightlifting | Indian Weightlifting Federation |
| Wrestling | Wrestling Federation of India |
IOC Winter Olympic Sports
These all sports are under the Winter Games Federation of India.
| Sport | National Federation |
|---|---|
| Ice Hockey | Ice Hockey Association of India |
| Ice Skating | Ice Skating Association of India |
| Luge | Indian Amateur Luge Association |
IOC Recognized Sports
Following are the National Sports Federation of sports which are recognized by IOC.
| Sport | National Federation |
|---|---|
| Billard | The Billards & Snooker Federation of India |
| Bowling | Bowling Federation of India |
| Netball | Netball Federation of India |
| Squash | Squash Rackets Federation of India |
| Wushu | Wushu Association of India |
Others
Following are some sports which IOC doesnot recognise as a Sport.
| Sport | National Federation |
|---|---|
| Arm wrestling | Indian Arm Wrestling Federation |
| Kabaddi | Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India |
| Kho Kho | Kho Kho Federation of India |
| Yachting | Yachting Association of India |
Select Olympians
Women
| Sport | Sportsperson | Medal | Year | Host Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weightlifting | Ms. Karnam Malleswari | Bronze | 2000 | Sydney Olympics |
| Boxing | Mary Kom | Bronze | 2012 | London Olympics |
| Badminton | Saina Nehwal | Bronze | 2012 | London Olympics |
| Wrestling | Sakshi Malik | Bronze | 2016 | Rio Olympics |
| Badminton | Pusarla Venkata Sindhu | Silver | 2016 | Rio Olympics |
Multi-Sport Events hosted by IOA
- 1951 Asian Games
- 1982 Asian Games
- 1987 South Asian Games
- 1995 South Asian Games
- 2003 Afro-Asian Games
- 2007 Military World Games
- 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games
- 2010 Commonwealth Games
- 2011 South Asian Winter Games
- 2014 Lusophony Games
- 2016 South Asian Games
Awards by IOA
See also
References
- ↑ "India at the Commonwealth Games". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
- ↑ Dr A G Noehren was National Physical Education Director of the YMCAs in India, and H C Buck was Principal of the National YMCA school of physical education in Madras
- ↑ Appeal by Yadavindra Singh, President, Indian Olympic Association, 1948
- ↑ "India outrage over IOA suspension from Olympics". BBC News. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
- ↑ PTI (4 December 2012). "IOA suspension is an 'unfortunate decision', says Jitendra Singh". Times of India. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
- ↑ Srinivasan, Kamesh (16 May 2013). "IOC agrees to take India back in Olympic fold". The Hindu. Chennai, India.
- ↑ "IOA polls on Sunday, India likely to return to Olympic fold". The Times Of India.
- ↑ The Olympic Games, IOC Lusanne, 1958
- ↑ "Kalmadi has not been removed: Malhotra". Deccan Herald. 27 April 2011.
- ↑ "Abhay Chautala becomes IOA President, Lalit Bhanot named Secretary General". Webindia123.com. Suni System (Pvt) Ltd. 30 November 2012.
- ↑ "IOC wants fresh polls before it lifts ban on Indian Olympic Association". Yahoo! Sports Canada. The Canadian Press. 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 12 April 2013.
- ↑ "India's Olympic exile ends as IOC revokes IOA's ban". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Times Of India. 11 February 2014.