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Relief for Indian taekwondo players, team asked to be included in South Asian Games
The IOC asked the organisers to include the Indian taekwondo team even at this late juncture, saying the athletes should not suffer from a sitaution they are not responsibile for.
World Taekwondo and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have asked the organising committee of the South Asian Games (SAG) in Nepal to allow participation of the Indian taekwondo players in the regional Olympics. The Games will be held at Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal from December 1 to 10 with competitions in 28 sports including paragliding and cricket, which is returning to the Games after eight years.
The Nepal Olympic Committee had informed the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) that the Indian taekwando team will not be allowed to participate in the the 13th South Asian Games “due to the suspension of the Taekwando Federation of India by World Taekwondo federation.”
In response, IOA took up the matter with World Taekwondo (WT) and IOC and both ruled in favour of India.
“It is true that Taekwondo Federation of India (TFI) was suspended by WT due to governance issue. However, the Interim Board formed by IOA and WT is managing daily operations and takes care of selection of athletes to participate in all WT promoted or recognized competitions. In particular, WT has been fully supporting the selection process of the Interim Board for participation in South Asian Games, as athletes have never been suspended from participation in international sport event,” Jeongkang Seo, senior director, member relations & development at WT, wrote in a mail addressed to Sujan Lal Shrestha, executive secretary, Nepal Olympic Committee.
The IOC asked the organisers to include the Indian taekwondo team even at this late juncture, saying the athletes should not suffer from a sitaution they are not responsibile for.
“We understand that the deadline for these athletes to be registered may have expired due to this situation, but still request that you find an appropriate solution for these athletes to be able to participate in these Games,” Jerome Poivey, head of institutional relations and governance in NOC relations department of the IOC wrote in a email to the Nepal Olympic Committee officials.
The intervention by WT and IOC has come as a relief for Indian players but participants from archery and karate are still in the lurch as their entries have been rejected for the same reason.
The South Asian Archery Association had rejected entries of the Indian archery team because Archery Association of India is still suspended because of governence issues. They went ahead with their decision to reject the participation of the Indian archers despite knowing that Indian players were participating in the Asian Championships in Thailand under the international federation flag. Ditto for karate where the national federation is in trouble over governance issues.
Meanwhile, the Volleyball Federation of India had to send and SOS to Indian Olympic Association as both its men and women’s team were stranded at home the competitions at SAG starting on Wednesday.
“Till now nothing has been done for ticketing or kitting of the team. If both teams are not departing tomorrow, they can’t participate in the SAF Games (sic). We are the winners in both section. Kindly help us to send the teams by tomorrow,” K Vasavan, assistant secretary, VFI wrote in a message to IOA chief Narinder Batra.
The team is set to leave on Wednesday.
India usually dominate the South Asian Games where Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the other participating countries.
