Indian athletes to miss out on two Asian events

Indian athletes are likely to miss out on two important upcoming Asian sporting events as a result of the confusion and power struggle following the Indian Olympic Association's suspension by the IOC.

The accreditation process for the Asian Youth Games and the Asian Youth Indoor Games had started long time back but no Indian athlete's name has been sent for participation till now.

Although the Indian athletes cannot take part representing the country, they could have taken part under the
Olympic Council of Asia flag under special consideration. But since no entry has been submitted within the stipulated deadline, their participation now looks extremely doubtful as the Pre Delegate Registration Meeting (DRM) is scheduled to be held in Colombo on Friday.

The second Asian Youth Games will be held in Nanjing, China, from August 16-24 while the 4th Asian Youth Indoor Games will be staged in Incheon, South Korea, from June 29 to July 6.

The inaugural edition of the Youth Games was held in Singapore in 2009 and over 1300 athletes had taken part in 11 disciplines.

The IOA headed by Abhay Singh Chautala is not recognised by the International Olympic Committee which continues to deal with V K Malhotra, who was the Acting President in the earlier body, and Randhir Singh,
who is the IOC member in India.

The athletes are unhappy that the administrators have not bothered to send in their entries though the OCA had started the documentation process a long time back.

"The athletes have suffered because of this dispute between the IOA and IOC. We can only wait for things to improve", an athlete said on condition of anonymity.