IOC suspension of IOA a black day for India: Chautala

Terming the International Olympic Committee`s suspension of IOA a "black day" for India, president-elect Abhay Singh Chautala on Wednesday lashed out at Randhir Singh and said the latter "conspired against the nation and its sportspersons".

Gurgaon: Terming the International Olympic Committee`s suspension of IOA a "black day" for India, president-elect Abhay Singh Chautala today lashed out at Randhir Singh and said the latter "conspired against the nation and its sportspersons".

"Randhir is a traitor. He conspired against the nation, its spokespersons. Being an IOC official he should have helped the country, but he had vested interests and put the country in such a mess today," Chautala alleged during a press conference here. "It`s a black day for the country," he added. Holding Randhir responsible for the national Olympic body`s suspension, Chautala said the veteran sports administrators should immediately resign from his post in IOC. "He should immediately resign from his post and he and the government are to be blamed for the current mess which led to IOC suspending India. "And tomorrow, in our AGM, we will take the house into confidence and pass a resolution demanding Randhir`s resignation. He will not be a part of the IOA again," Chautala said. "We will also write a letter to the IOC saying that Randhir should be immediately removed as member there because IOA has passed a resolution against him." He said the IOC`s decision to impose the ban on a "democratic country" like was not correct. "It`s an unfortunate incident that a democratic country like India has been banned by IOC. The decision taken by the IOC is not at all correct. "Four days back, our acting IOA chief V K Malhotra had written a letter to the IOC that we were just following the High Court`s directive and the election is happening as per the IOA constitution. We had requested them to send their observers for the election," Chautala said. "They didn`t send anyone and today put a ban on India. The person responsible for all this is Randhir Singh. Randhir misled the IOA all the way. When he came to know that he doesn`t have the numbers, he started threatening us with IOC mails." He further said: "He, through IOC, sent us numerous mails and misled us. He has hurt the sentiments of the country. He has let the nation down. The government is also to be blamed somewhere as they made us follow their guidelines. So, I want to blame both Randhir and the government for the current mess." Asked whether the Indian Olympic Association would appeal to the CAS, Chautala said, "I would like to inform you here that we were to send two of our officials -- Narinder Batra and R K Anand -- to Lausanne to make our stand clear. "They didn`t revert back to us. We will request the IOC to listen to us first and then take the next step. I am confident that they will lift the ban after hearing us." On Lalit Bhanot`s appointment to the post of secretary general, Chautala said, "We will reply to the IOC if they send us any communication." He assured that the athletes` future would not be affected. "There is enough time to sort out all the issues. Asian Games is in 2014, the Olympics is in 2016. IOA would like to assure all the sportspersons that their future will not be impacted by the decision and we will sort out all the issues in near future." PTI