Endgame for Ramachandran as IOA chief?

In what looks like the end of Ramachandran's reign as IOA chief, majority of the members who attended the EC meeting in Chennai expressed unhappiness with his style of functioning.

N. Ramachandran is losing ground within the IOA.

At this moment, it looks like N. Ramachandran might not be keen to contest for the second term as president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). His term ends in February 2018. At the IOA’s Executive Committee Meeting at a city hotel here on Thursday, in the presence of Ramachandran, the EC members ratified the decision to shift the venue of the annual general body meeting from Chennai to Delhi (at IOA Bhawan), which was a huge setback for the president. The AGM dates will remain the same: December 14.

READ: IOA executive council overrules president, shifts AGM venue The 69-year-old, a veteran sports administrator, was not willing to throw in the towel yet. Speaking to Sportstar , Ramachandran said he’ll take a call whether or not to contest the elections “shortly”. Many senior members Sportstar spoke to felt there are feeble chances of [Ramachandran] coming back to power as the numbers are stacked against him. One of the senior-most EC members said even though Ramachandran brought in sponsorship to IOA, he took several decisions arbitarily without consulting his colleagues.  

Dhanraj Choudhary, former Secretary of Table Tennis Federation of India and a senior EC member summed up Ramachandran’s first year: “N. Ramachandran brought sponsorship to IOA, gave money to national federations and State Olympic associations, but unfortunately he couldn't take people along with him.”

Responding to the criticism, Ramachandran told

Sportstar : “There have been many presidents in the past. Each one had his own style of functioning. I have mine.”

 

In another major decision, the EC decided to recommend de-recognition of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation to the General Body of the IOA. In all 21 EC members and 13 Associate members attended the meeting. In the confusion over the IOA president's future, Avadesh Kumar Choudhary looked pretty happy. Having been sidelined by IOA in the tussle over Volleyball Federation of India’s president (Avadesh) and Secretary (Ramvatar Singh Jakkar), the news of Ramachandran being undermined, must have been music to the ears of Avadesh, who is enthusiastic of retaining his post in case fresh elections are held. There was no clarity from EC members on whether Narinder Batra could contest for the post of president since he is not a current EC member.

Rajeev Mehta, Secretary of IOA, however, insisted that IOA will abide by the amended constitution of IOA in 2013 and the letter dated November 8 from International Olympic Committee for guidelines.