KOLKATA: Underlining that a strong Indian Olympic Association (IOA) would be needed to back the country’s future Olympics bid, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday expressed its disappointment over the IOA not appointing a full time Chief Executive Officer (CEO) despite repeated reminders.
At a roundtable with Indian journalists, IOC’s Director of NOC Relations, Olympic Solidarity and Olympism365, James Macleod said: “We have been continuing our dialogue with IOA for that position to be appointed and I must say that we’re quite disappointed with the fact that it hasn’t been done up till now… specifically with conversations around future hosting of the Games. You need a very strong National Olympic Committee to be able to back those kinds of bids.”
On three Indian wushu players from Arunachal Pradesh being forced to pull out of the Asian Games after not getting clearance from host nation China, Macleod highlighted the IOC’s principle of all athletes should have a free and unfettered access to sports competitions, regardless of their nationality and the passport they hold.
