NEW DELHI: Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju Tuesday issued a stern warning to national federations wracked by internecine feuding and asserted he would take action if the interests of athletes are affected.
Some sports federations, including Archery Association of India (AAI) and Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI), have been experiencing factional feuds and Rijiju said his prime concern is to protect the interests of these sports and the players.
“Government cannot intervene or intrude in the running of federations but we will not be a mute spectator if a sport is destroyed by mismanagement in any federation,” PTI quotes Rijiju as saying during an interaction.
“It reflects upon us as a nation if there is a problem in a federation. If they run into conflict with international federations, then the government has to be consulted.”
The two warring factions of AAI recently elected two presidents, forcing the World Archery to de-list the national federation as its member and warn it to either get its house in order by July 31 or face suspension.
“What happened in archery, there are certain directions given by the court and after that the two factions did something which is not proper. But whatever it may be, we will ask them to work in tandem with the court directive and the interest of the players should not suffer,” Rijiju said.
The Sports Minister said he will soon resign from his position as president of Arunachal Archery Association.
“I am still archery association president (of Arunachal Pradesh) but now I will resign. I will ask the state unit to conduct a meeting and start the process of electing a new president.”
Gymnastics does not have a government-recognised federation since 2012. There are two factions in GFI which has been de-recognised by the IOA.
Rijiju said: “I haven’t seen in detail the issues of GFI but the factional issue within the sports bodies needs to be addressed. If a particular discipline is suffering because of problems in the federation, then we will take corrective steps. I don’t want the gymnasts to suffer.
“Our sports secretary is already meeting with the federations one by one and I am planning to meet them soon. We are going to work together, we have to ensure the game does not suffer due to factions within sports bodies, that is my primary concern.”
