IOA delegation to meet Sports Secretary today

New Delhi: A delegation of the Indian Olympic Association will meet the Sports Secretary on Friday to discuss the suspension imposed by the International Olympic Committee and chalk out a plan of action to return to the Olympic fold.

"A delegation headed by Abhay Singh Chautala will meet Secretary of Sports on 7th of December at 12 noon to discuss the issue and decide the plan of action" an IOA statement said today. The IOA has already constituted a two-member committee of R K Anand and Narinder Batra to clarify the position of IOA to IOC and also state the actual facts on the entire development which was misrepresented before the IOC. "The newly elected executive council committee is committed to the welfare and development of the sport persons and we assure whatever possible will be done to resolve the issue created by IOC", the statement said. "The athletes? interest will be protected at any cost on priority basis. We will also ensure that Indian sportspersons will and shall compete with the pride of the National Flag and nothing less", it said. The IOA will soon form a special committee to hold discussions with the government and the International Olympic Committee to resolve the code issue in the wake of the suspension order. The IOA, which went ahead with its controversial elections yesterday despite the suspension order from the IOC, also has plans to meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and seek his intervention to drop the government`s sports code. "This Code has been there since 1975 and successive governments have not been able to make it into a law. In two or three days an IOA delegation of 8-10 members will meet the Prime Minister and request him to drop the Code," new President Abhay Singh Chautala had said after taking over charge. We will also form a committee to write to the IOC explaining our position. We will seek a meeting with the IOC so that we can explain our position. We respect the IOC`s decision. Our plea is that please hear from our side also. Whatever decision the IOC takes we will abide by it but please hear our side of the story first," Chautala had said. A day after the election, top officials of the IOA had discussions to find a solution to the vexed issues. In a major embarrassment for India, the IOC had on Tuesday suspended the IOA because of government interference in itselection process. The IOC said that it decided to ban India as the IOA had failed to comply with Olympic Charter and also allowed a tainted official to contest elections for a top post. The decision was largely expected after the IOA decided to go ahead with the elections today under the government`s Sports Code, defying the IOC`s diktat to hold the polls under the Olympic Charter. PTI