AITA accepts govt guidelines on age, tenure

New Delhi: At a time when major National Sports Federations (NSFs) have refused to adhere to government guidelines on age and tenure, the All India Tennis Association announced that it will follow the controversial regulations.

The AITA arrived at this decision at its Executive Committee meeting here. “President Shri Yashwant Sinha stated that the Government Guidelines with respect to tenure and age of Office Bearers should be adhered to by the AITA. These views were unanimously approved the Executive Committee,” a release said. Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Badminton Association of India (BAI) and now the de-recognised Hockey India (HI) have refused to accept the government guidelines, saying that they are independent and do not require government grants to survive. The guidelines, issued on May 1 this year, restrict tenure of the president of a NSF to 12 years and that of the secretary and treasurer to a maximum of two consecutive terms of four years. According to the guidelines no person who is 70 or above, can contest elections of a NSF. “IOC Guidelines and recommendations to the IOA for amendment of the IOA Constitution to bring the same in line with IOC were also discussed,” an AITA release said. The AITA also rejected media reports that inferior quality surface was used to prepare the tennis courts for the Commonwealth Games. AITA Secretary General Anil Khanna had quit the post of Organising Committee treasurer after allegations that his son’s company got the contract to lay tennis courts. “The Committee noted all the facts regarding the selection of the tennis surface by the Govt and DDA and, thereafter, unanimously resolved that it did not appreciate the news appearing in two national dailies and that all actions taken by the AITA were 100 per cent correct and above board and there was no conflict of interest whatsoever of any office bearers of AITA in this process. “The committee further noted that by following the process of competitive bidding the Govt saved upto 30 percent (around 40 lakh),” the release said. PTI