By IANS,
New Delhi: Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi Monday accepted Ashok Kumar Mattoo’s resignation as treasurer of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CGOC) and appointed All India Tennis Association secretary-general Anil Khanna in his place.
Earlier in the day, Hockey India (HI) senior vice president Vidya Stokes said the executive board has accepted the resignation of Mattoo from the president’s post. Stokes will hold the charge till the election Feb 7.
Ironically, Mattoo’s resignation was accepted the day Kalmadi disbursed Rs.1 crore to the players who had walked out of the national camp last week demanding settlement of all their outstanding payments, including match fee, incentive bonuses and sponsorship money for last year.
After failing to resolve the pay dispute with the players, Mattoo felt his authority was compromised when Sahara India Parivar released on its own Rs.1 crore for paying the players and Kalmadi stepping in to carry out the negotiations.
Mattoo told the players that he was helpless to either make the payment or even give a written assurance as demanded by them since he was holding the charge in ad hoc capacity. He tried in vain to convince the players that HI funds did not permit it to make the entire payment in one go and he even showed the balance sheet.
In a statement here Monday, Kalmadi said he was accepting Mattoo’s resignation “with great reluctance” after failing to convince him to reconsider his decision.
“It is with great reluctance and after consulting my senior colleagues that I have decided to accept my colleague Ashok Kumar Mattoo’s resignation as treasurer of the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games.”
Kalmadi said: “I wish I could have persuaded him to change his mind. We tried hard to convince Mattoo to stay on, but he had made up his mind. We respect his sentiment and accept his wish to retire from sports administration. We will miss his valuable inputs as we head for the home stretch of our preparations to host the Commonwealth Games. We wish to place on record our appreciation of his meticulous work over a number of years.”
Mattoo’s successor Khanna, a chartered accountant, is also the president of the Asian Tennis Federation.