The Sports Ministry on Friday shot down a Times of India report and accused the media house of being misused by vested interests. The contentious issue seems to have arisen with regards to a Times of India report which claimed that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had offered to mediate between the Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) over the “contentious sports code”.
As per the supposed report in question, IOC President Thomas Bach who is currently on a visit to India had proposed this mediation via the formation of a four-member working group, during a meeting with union sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Thursday. The report also quoted the IOC President as saying that IOA had even agreed to this proposed mediation.
These claims by the TOI though didn’t sit well with the sports ministry which issued a tweet claiming that no mediation was required, discussed, offered or accepted during their meeting. After calling the news inaccurate the ministry also accused TOI of allowing its platform to be misused by vested interests:
. @TOIIndiaNews carried an inaccurate headline/content on “mediation” by IOC between Sports Ministry & IOA.
Unfortunately ToI allowed its platform to be misused by vested interests.
While we had a very fruitful meeting, no mediation was required, discussed, offered or accepted
— Dept of Sports MYAS (@IndiaSports) April 20, 2018
This was also echoed by Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore:
Inaccurate reporting by @TOIIndiaNews on the visit of the IOC delegation.
We, as institutions and individuals, are united in our vision to ensure the best for Indian sports and our athletes. https://t.co/r1A4CZErHx
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) April 20, 2018
The draft of the said sports code in question has been prepared by the Sports Ministry and if implemented would have to be adhered to by the IOA and other India sports federations. Some of the contentious issues include a 12 year limit for every official holding his/her post, barring bureaucrats and politicians from holding the federation posts and a CEO being appointed by the government.
An agreement though has been formed over the proposal that office-bearers should be below 70 years of age.
