IOC gives more time to suspended IOA

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Saturday extended the deadline of the suspended Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by a month to amend its constitution and hold fresh elections.

The IOC had earlier asked the IOA to amend its constitution in line with the Olympic charter by July 15 and elect new office bearers by Sep 1 before it considered revoking the ban on India.

The world body now feels it needs more time to comment on the proposed IOA constitution.

"I am pleased to confirm that the IOC will be able to send all its comments on the new IOA Constitution by mid-August 2013," IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper said in his letter addressed to Sports Minister Jitendra Singh and acting IOA president Vijay Kumar Malhotra, among others.

Kepper said that elections could now be held Sep 22-28.

"This means that the first step of the process, namely the Extraordinary Meeting to (i) adopt the revised Constitution, (ii) elect the independent election commission and (iii) decide upon the exact date of the Elective General Assembly, as per the IOC roadmap of 24 May 2013, will be slightly postponed and shall now take place in the period between 22 and 28 August 2013 (considering also the fact that the Asian Youth Games will begin on 16 August)," he said.

"As a consequence, the Elective General Assembly shall be held one month later, namely between 22 and 28 September 2013."

The IOC had suspended the IOA in December 2012.