IHF lodges protest with IOC over Batra, Anand`s presence

New Delhi: The Indian Hockey Federation on Thursday lodged a strong protest with the IOC for including Hockey India General Secretary Narinder Batra and Jharkhand Olympic Association chief R K Anand in the IOA delegation for the May 15 meeting at Lausanne.

The Secretary General of the IHF, Ashok Mathur shot off a letter to the International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, complaining that Batra represents a body that stands de-recognised by the Government of India and have only provisional affiliation with the Indian Olympic Association. He said it was not appropriate on the part of the IOC to allow Batra and Anand to represent the IOA delegation. "That he (Batra) is one of the representatives of the National Sports Federation had met IOC representative at Lausanne recently along with R K Anand without any authorisation, they were in fact representing Abhay Chautala and tainted Lalit Bhanot and not the NSF of India and no meeting of the NSF`s was called," Mathur wrote in the letter. "It is learnt that the IOC has in fact permitted them to accompany the official delegation as representatives of the IOA," he added. Mathur further alleged that "Batra played an active role in the illegal election of the IOA and was also instrumental in diluting the constitution of the IOA after the same was vetted by the IOC". "Batra is a prodigy of Suresh Kalmadi and Bhanot and he created a parallel body - Hockey India - with their patronage. Batra is the root cause of the current hockey dispute in the country. Such culprits creating parallel NSFs by violating Olympic Charter have no right to be associated with the sport at any cost," the letter said. "The permission to represent the IOA delegation, led by Batra or Anand at IOC, is not appropriate in view of the authorisation given to prof V K Malhotra as (IOA) acting president and Randhir Singh as IOC member. It is believed that Malhotra and Randhir Singh had not authorised Batra and Anand to visit IOC," it added. PTI