IOA meet to discuss Ministry's proposal on relaxing Asiad selection criteria

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has called a meeting of its Core and Legal Committees tomorrow to decide its future course of action after the Sports Ministry asked it to relax the Asian Games selection norms for better medal prospects.

The sports ministry yesterday urged the IOA to relax selection norms in specific cases "in the larger interest of the sports and sportspersons" after concerns were raised by various athletes and teams that have missed the cut.

The ministry said the Olympic body in consultation with particular federations may reassess the earlier decision on sending entries if those ineligible disciplines have performed consistently for six months but not made it due to lack of exposure and at the same time have strong chance of finishing in the top four.

The recent circular has put the IOA in a dilemma and the Olympic body has decided to discuss the matter with its Core and Legal Committee before responding to the sports ministry.

"We have called a meeting of out Core Committee and Legal Committee tomorrow morning at 11 am to discuss the matter and see how to take forward the Ministry's proposal," IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta told PTI.

"The meeting will also be attended by IOA president (Narinder Batra) and chairman of Preparation Panel (Lalit Bhanot). We will have to discuss the matter extensively and see what can be done."