The Indian Olympic Association has submitted a “long” list of 2370 athletes and officials to the Asian Games Organising Committee in Jakarta which will be pruned by June 30 for submission to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for clearance.
Announcing this, Narendra Dhruv Batra, president of IOA gave a detailed break up of the list and said that, “this list includes core probables as selection of teams for various competitions is yet to take place. We shall shortlist the final contingent at the conclusion of final selections by various federations.” He also revealed that the list at present includes 1938 athletes, 398 officials like team managers, 8 IOA officials like Chef-de-Mission and other IOA staff, 7 Union ministry of youth affairs and sports officials and 18 Sports Authority of India officials. The IOA, which had a run in with the sports ministry prior to the Common Wealth Games on the number of officials accompanying the teams, has also formed a sub-committee which will be involved in pruning the list. India sends a large contingent to the Continental Games traditionally, as it takes part in many team events which may or may not be Olympic events or even CWG events.
Giving the example of hockey – both men and women teams – Batra explained that with final selection of 18 member squad yet to take place, Hockey India had to submit names of all core probables thus leading to bumping up of number of athletes.
Following the Executive Council Meeting held earlier in the day, IOA announced its decision to submit Expression Of Interest for IOC Congress 2021 or onwards, Youth Olympic Games 2026, Asian Games 2030 and Olympic Games 2032.
There has been some controversy and concern among a section of IOA regarding the membership drive to be undertaken where private members can also become IOA members on payment of fee. Batra dismissed such concerns saying, “We don't need to explain the internal working of our organisation. If International Olympic Committee has any problems they can very well reject these proposals.” These proposals, it must be noted, may not meet the National Sports Code criteria and could result in a possible face-off betwen MYAS and IOA if cleared.