IOA forms governance committee for golf

In a letter to the president of the Indian Golf Union (IGU), the IOA has categorically stated that even though the IGU continues to be a member of the IOA, it would do so without voting rights.

Narinder Batra (L) and Rajeev Mehta met Antony Scanlon, executive director of the International Golf Federation, on May 6 in Gold Coast to discuss on working together to resolve the situation.

The crisis in Indian golf continues unabated with the latest being the Indian Olympic Association forming a Governance Committee to administer the sport.

In a letter to the Lt. General Devraj Anbu, the President of the IGU, the IOA has categorically stated that even though the Indian Golf Union (IGU) continues to be a member of the IOA, it would do so without voting rights, which would be restored only after a fresh set of office-bearers are elected as per a new, amended constitution in line with the National Sports Development Code 2011.

“IOA president Narinder Batra and Secretary General Rajeev Mehta met Antony Scanlon, executive director of the International Golf Federation, on May 6 in Gold Coast to discuss on working together to resolve the situation. It was then agreed that a golf governance committee would be formed to reform governance, liase with all stakeholders, ensure compliance of norms and help IGU conduct elections,” the letter states.

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The committee would be chaired by Kavita Singh, president of the Women’s Golf Association of India, and include Mukesh Kumar, Onkar Singh, Vir Srivastava and an IGF nominee yet to be named. The committee would also oversee the participation of Indian athletes and officials in any Olympic Qualifier events in the interim.

The IGU has already availed four extensions to its interim recognition and almost a two-year time since it was suspended by the Sports Ministry in 2017, the last of which ended on June 30. The last Annual General Meeting and elections to IGU were held way back on October 28, 2016. The ministry de-recognition came into effect from July 1 with Sports Minister Kiren Rijuju’s reply in the Lok Sabha recently not including IGU in the list of recognised federations.

Ad-hoc committee for Assam Olympic Association

Meanwhile, the IOA has also formed an ad-hoc committee for the Assam Olympic Association (AOA) citing its inability to hold elections on time. The decision was taken, IOA said, since the AOA had announced it would hold an AGM and elections on February 24, 2019 but failed to do so. The three-member committee, including Mushtaq Ahmed, SM Bali and Sunil Elangbam, has been authorised to hold elections to AOA within six months.