PT Usha, the head of the Indian Olympic Association, responded to executive council members of the association in a press release issued on Sunday who had accused the former Olympic track athlete of running the IOA in an “autocratic” manner. The response was in the form of a press release posted on her official social media account on X, formerly Twitter.
A group of IOA executive council members had written a separate letter to the International Olympic Committee on Sunday, as per reports from Hindustan Times, stating that the functioning of the IOA under Usha’s gambit was against the “democratic principles” of the national association.
This is yet another event in the ongoing feud between Usha and the IOA’s executive council that began when the former had appointed Raghuram Iyer as the Chief Executive Officer. A meeting was held on Thursday that also saw the attendance of Jerome Poivey, the head of the IOC’s Institutional Relations and Governance wing.
Sunday’s response from Usha addressed several allegations made by the EC against the former Olympian including forcing the appointment of Iyer on the board. In the press release, she stated, “One of the most egregious claims made by these EC members is questioning Mr. Raghuram Iyer's appointment as IOA Chief Executive Officer. It is important to clarify that his appointment, made in January 2024, was carried out in strict accordance with the IOA constitution.”
Appointed as the first female president of the IOA back in 2022, Usha wrote that all the allegations levelled against her were just an attempt to “hinder the progress of Indian sports and undermine the positive developments that we, as a collective, have worked hard to achieve”.
While Usha in her capacity as IOA president chaired the official meeting, 12 members of the EC circulated minutes from an additional meeting that took place after the official meeting concluded with Poivey in attendance. Further grievances against the appointment of Iyer along with Usha’s governance of the association were circulated with joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey appointed as acting CEO.
Poivey’s intervention during the official meeting on Thursday was to try and mediate between the IOA EC and Usha who were at loggerheads with regards to the proper functioning and execution of the IOA constitution and regulations.
In the letter written to the IOC, the EC stated that while this was an internal matter for the IOA to resolve, it remained committed to furthering the Olympic movement in full capacity. Those who signed the letter to the IOC include senior vice president Ajay H Patel, vice presidents Rajlaxmi Deo and Gagan Narang, treasurer Sahdev Yadav, joint secretaries Alaknanda Ashok and Kalyan Chaubey, and other EC members Amitabh Sharma, Bhupender Singh Bajwa, Rohit Rajpal, Dola Banerjee, Harpal Singh and Yogeshwar Dutt
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