One member from each discipline to get Olympic pass: Malhotra

New Delhi: Flooded with requests from various quarters for accompanying the Indian contingent to the London Olympics, the IOA on Tuesday said that apart from the support staff only one member from each of the qualifying discipline will be sponsored by the organisation to the event.

"Around 40 people sum up as the support staff, which includes the coaches. Apart from them we have decided to take one person from each of the qualifying discipline to London," acting chief of the Indian Olympic Association, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, told reporters here. "81 of our athletes have qualified for the Olympics, we are getting a guest pass on every 20 participants, which comes to four passes. We will utilise these passes on rotational basis to accommodate these delegates. The federations whose events finish earlier can make way for those representatives whose disciplines are scheduled later," he added. Malhotra, meanwhile, reiterated that they had no role in sacked Commonwealth Games organising secretary Suresh Kalmadi`s trip to London. "We have already made it clear that IOA has nothing to do with Kalmadi`s visit to London. He has not asked us about his visit neither he is going there as a representative of the IOA," Malhotra said on the sidelines of a send-off function organised by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Asked whether the IOA has received any letter from the Sports Ministry in this regard, Malhotra replied in negative. "We have not received any letter from the ministry," he said. Malhotra, on the occasion, also wished the Olympic-bound grapplers. PTI