IOA to follow 'No accreditation policy' for parents at Asian Games

A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday

Left with bitter experience after Saina Nehwal's pull-out threat during the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has decided to strictly follow a"no accreditation policy" for the parents of sportspersons during the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia.

In Gold Coast, Saina's father Harvir Nehwal initially didn't get accreditation to stay inside the Games Village leading to the Olympic bronze medallist threatening to pull out.

The IOA had then arranged for Nehwal senior's accreditation and Saina went onto play a pivotal role in winning gold in team event as well as women's singles.

"There is no policy to give accreditation to parents of the players. We made an exception in Gold Coast as the athlete in question (without taking Saina's name) said she won't play," IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta told mediapersons.

"We gave her parent a 'P' type accreditation as there were officials who were not travelling, which allowed us to make an exception. But no parents of athletes will get an accreditation from IOA for Asian Games," Mehta added.

However, if a particular National Sports Federation (NSF) includes a parent or a spouse or a relative in the support staff, IOA will not be in a position to raise an objection.

"The convention is 25 percent of the squad will have officials/support staff. For example if any particular squad comprise 12 members, then three will be officials (coach, manager). Now if an NSF induct any parent/spouse/relative as official, then we can't object," Mehta said.

IOA to submit EOI for '26 Youth Olympics, '30 Asiad and '32 Olympics

The IOA on Saturday announced its grand plans to submit an Expression of Interest to host the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Mumbai along with 2030 Asian Games and the 2032 Olympic Games in New Delhi.

The IOA also submitted an EOI for conducting the IOC Congress 2021 or onwards.

 "We have made some purposeful decisions in this meeting. From EOI for hosting global events to announcing new committees and commissions, it's all formally plotted in our future roadmap," IOA President, Narinder Batra said.

The IOA members also reviewed India's performance at the recently concluded  Commonwealth Games at the Executive Council Meeting and at the back of it announced new committees and commissions to streamline systems.

With the upcoming 18th Asian Games, the IOA also announced that they have registered 2370 members, including athletes and officials, for the quadrennial showpiece to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia starting from August 18.

"The Long list for the 18th Asian Games has also been submitted to the organisers of the event. We shall shortlist the final contingent at the conclusion of final selections by various federations," Batra added.

India's Sanjana Ramesh wins the MVP award at Basketball Without Borders Asia

India's Sanjana Ramesh was awarded the 'Most Valuable Player' (MVP) even as compatriot Vaishnavi Yadav won the 'Girls Grit Award' on the fourth and final day of Basketball Without Borders Asia, which featured 66 campers from 16 countries from the Asia-Pacific region.

The camp got underway with the girls championship game between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx. Coached on the sidelines by Ruth Riley and Sakshi Sheoran, the Lynx defeated the Liberty 20-13.

The boys championship game then followed, with the Milwaukee Bucks going up against the Brooklyn Nets. Led by coaches Darvin Ham and Satnam Singh, the Bucks edged past the Bret Brielmaier and Caris LeVert led Nets team 22-18.

At the conclusion of the championship games, the two boys and two girls All-Star teams were announced.

Team Red of the girls All-Star team was coached by Ruth Riley, while Ebony Hoffman served as coach for Team White.  Team Red defeated Team White 27-18.

Following that, the boys All-Star Game was played in which Team Red emerged with the 39-37 win thanks to a team-high 8 points from both Clancey Bird and Mac Stodart.

Rence Forthsky Padrigao of Philippines was named Boys MVP.

Sanjana, who had also won the Co-MVP award at the NBA Academies Women's camp, said, "Whatever I have learnt here playing with international players and coaches I am going to take that back and share the knowledge with my fellow players. Basketball is my life and these four days at the camp were the best I have had in my life."