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Telangana, AP Olympic day tomorrow
A bitter war is being waged out there in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State in the name of their respective Olympic Associations. Two warring factions that, not ironically, are led by high-profile politicos, are so deep in the power-struggle that sportspersons from both States, particularly those into team events,
Hyderabad: A bitter war is being waged out there in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State in the name of their respective Olympic Associations. Two warring factions that, not ironically, are led by high-profile politicos, are so deep in the power-struggle that sportspersons from both States, particularly those into team events, are getting deeply affected. The athletes are virtually in a no man’s land in the absence of governmental support barring a feebly half-hearted lip service that has no practical relevance.
To make matters worse, there is a legal twist with the issue of which panel holds ‘real’ authority to run the show set to be decided by the court of law. A semblance of order could be restored on Wednesday in far-off Guwahati or by the end of the year.
The baptism has been controversial with two factions vying for power in both associations. Although, they have been putting up a brave face the fact of the matter is that neither has been firmly ensconced in the seat of power. This is more vocally pronounced in Telangana State where bitter rivalry between two claimants has destroyed the last bit of ‘sporting’ fabric as far as the athletes go.
Quite tragically, both factions in Telangana State are oozing with confidence that their panel would get the official IOA stamp. However, the issue of affiliation to Telangana will be a tricky proposition, considering that the ‘promoters’ of both have a credible track-record.
On the one hand there is Olympic Association of Telangana (OAT) headed by long-standing administrator Prof K Ranga Rao, whose panel also has former bureaucrat and incumbent President of Telangana Football Association (TFA) Dr Rafat Ali and Dr S R Premraj, former Sports Director of GHMC. Pitted against them is the Telangana Olympics Association (TOA) that has Member of Parliament AP Jithender Reddy as President and his trusted lieutenant K Jagadishwer Yadav, Secretary of the undivided APOA.
An indication of which way the pendulum will swing will be made known when the Annual General Meeting of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) meets in Guwahati or within the fortnight following the directions given by the High Court Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B Bhosle and S V Bhatt on Friday.
On that count the ball is in the court of IOA. The problems that will confront whoever assumes office is the lack of infrastructural facilities and quality coaches in both State. It is point that is highlighted by Pavan Reddy, General Secretary of APOA, who admits, “because of politics, athletes have suffered substantially.
After the landmark Court ruling whereby the IOA has to announce the official status within a fortnight, we hope to bring a turnaround and take steps that will benefit the athletes.” The bigger problem is that the sportspersons are a disillusioned lot. To make matters worse, 2016 is an Olympic year!
