By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
New Delhi : The Beijing Olympic Games are less than six months away and India’s preparations in badminton and shooting events appear to be hit by the personality clashes between the sports officials.
Camps have either been cancelled or postponed in the recent past due to the lack of consumable equipment like the shuttlecocks and ammunition in the absence of a clear-cut policy, red tapism and personality clashes between officials of Sports Authority of India (SAI) and national sports federations (NSFs).
Correspondence between the ministry and SAI accessed by IANS clearly reveals that despite the government sanctioning NSFs to import consumable equipment and get reimbursed by SAI, the sanction letter seems to be flying around the tables of senior SAI officials.
SAI director-general Ratan Prakash Watal told IANS Wednesday that it was a matter of adjustment and the government policy is very clear and it was conveyed to the federations. However, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) have challenged his claim.
BAI president V.K. Verma said the ministry’s approval remained on paper since November as Watal had not officially informed the federations.
“The shuttlecocks shortage is man-made. The authorities who are responsible for procuring and providing them to the national camps, have failed in their duty as they were clearly informed about the camps well in time,” Verma said here.
“Till date we don’t have the SAI approval for importing the shuttlecocks. How can a federation – I did not even ask for a loan from SAI – take steps if there is no green signal? If they don’t give permission now, the entire Olympic Games preparations would go for a toss,” he warned.
The Olympic Games will be held August 8-24.
Because of the shuttlecocks shortage, BAI had scrapped a national camp in Goa late last month. The government has banned importing shuttlecocks from Hong Kong.
Verma said not only Beijing preparations but also other international commitments would be badly hurt if the sports ministry did not intervene to save the situation immediately.
“I see no reason why SAI cannot get the shuttlecocks within a couple of days by making necessary changes in the policy.”
NRAI secretary-general Baljeet Singh Sethi said he could not import ammunition as SAI had not granted the federation the license.
“We haven’t got the license for over a year. If I don’t get a licence, how can I import ammunition?” he asked.
“Moreover, I am not satisfied with the reimbursement policy as we have had bitter experience in the past because SAI takes too long to reimburse. I want to first sign an MoU with SAI over the reimbursement,” he said.