NEW DELHI: Coming down hard on “repeat offender” India, the International Olympic Committee on Friday suspended “ALL discussions” with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) regarding the hosting of global sporting events in future. The IOC also instructed international federations to neither award nor hold sports events in India, till the Union government provides written assurance that it will follow the Olympic charter.
It is worth noting that the IOA has expressed an interest in bidding to host the 2032 Olympics, the 2030 Asian Games and the 2026 Youth Olympics.
The IOC’s actions are a consequence of the Centre’s decision to deny visas to two Pakistani shooters – GM Bashir and Khalil Ahmed – and their manager, in the wake of last week’s terror attack directed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in J&K’s Pulwama in which 44 CRPF personnel were killed.
India had attracted the IOC’s ire last year as well for denying a visa to a Kosovo boxer for the Women’s World Boxing Championships in the city, since the Union government does not recognise the European country.
The IOC has also withdrawn the Olympic qualification status for the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event (the discipline in which the two Pakistani shooters were to compete in) from the ISSF World Cup, which is set to begin in the capital from Saturday.
The IOC declared it was restricting the withdrawal of recognition as an Olympic qualification event to just the 25m rapid fire pistol competition “in the interest of the other 500 athletes from 61 countries participating in the other events who are already in India for their competition”.
Ironically, India had hosted the Olympic qualifying event for the 2016 Rio Games, when the IOC took the Olympic quota places from the Asian Championships hosted by Kuwait, citing a similar case of political interference.
An indication that the government had been made aware of the sanctions the IOC was planning to slap on India was provided when Union Sports Minister Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore decided to skip the cultural function organised here Thursday evening by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to welcome the shooters for the World Cup.
IOC statement in full:
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) today (Thursday) revoked the Olympic qualification status of the 25m rapid fire pistol event of the International Sports Shooting Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol.
The competition is taking place in New Delhi, India, from 20 to 28 February, 2019.
The IOC was informed on 18 February that the Indian government authorities failed to grant an entry visa to the Pakistani delegation comprising two athletes and one official who were meant to participate in the ISSF World Cup. This is a qualification competition for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in which direct quotas are earned by the respective National Olympic Committees (NOCs). The two Pakistani athletes were due to compete in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event, starting Saturday 23 February, in which two quota places are available for the Games.
The IOC restricted the withdrawal of recognition as an Olympic qualification event to the 25m rapid fire pistol competition in which the two Pakistani athletes were supposed to participate. This happened in the interest of the other 500 athletes from 61 countries participating in the other events who are already in India for their competition.
Since becoming aware of the issue, and in spite of intense last-minute joint efforts by the IOC, the ISSF and the Indian NOC, and discussions with the Indian government authorities, no solution has been found to allow the Pakistani delegation to enter India in time to compete.
This situation goes against the Fundamental Principles of the Olympic Charter, in particular the principles of non-discrimination, as well as the IOC’s and the Olympic Movement’s position, reiterated on many occasions over the past few years, that equal treatment must be guaranteed for all participating athletes and sporting delegations at international sports events, without any form of discrimination or political interference from the host country.
As a result, the IOC Executive Board also decided to suspend all discussions with the Indian NOC and government regarding the potential applications for hosting future sports and Olympic-related events in India, until clear written guarantees are obtained from the Indian government to ensure the entry of all participants in such events in full compliance with the rules of the Olympic Charter – and to recommend that the IFs neither award to nor hold sports events in India until the above-mentioned guarantees are obtained.
The ISSF was asked to make a proposal on how the two available Olympic quota places will now be otherwise reassigned.
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