Sports Minister directs IOA president to ensure regular National Games

The Union Sports Minister said that he would take up the matter with the Chief Secretary of Goa to ensure the timely conduct of the next edition of the National Games.

The IOA president, N. Ramachandran, proposed the hosting of the Beach Asian Games in 2019, which was duly noted by the Union Sports Minister, Vijay Goel.

The Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel expressed concern about the non-organisation of National Games periodically, and asked the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president, N. Ramachandran, to focus on its regular conduct.

In a meeting here with the Sports Minister on Wednesday, the IOA president said that he would visit Panjim and take up the matter with the Chief Secretary of Goa for ensuring the timely conduct of the next edition of the National Games.

The Sports Minister also directed the IOA to focus on resolving the disputes in many national sports federations. Interestingly, the IOA president had visited the Sports Minister, to seek the consent of the government for opening a regional office of the Olympic Council of Asia for the South Asian Region, and bid for multi-disciplinary sporting events like the Asian Games.

The IOA president was particular in his suggestion that the Beach Asian Games would be a good option to host for 2019. The Minister agreed to consider the proposal. It was also agreed that the IOA and the Sports Ministry should have regular meetings, about once every two months.

The meeting was also attended by the Sports Secretary, Injeti Srinivas and the Joint Secretary of Sports, Inder Dhamija.