Ecstatic at wrestling's re-inclusion in the Olympic Games, Yogeshwar Dutt today appealed to the suspended IOA to set its house in order to end India's exile and pave the way for country's athletes to compete under the tri-colour.
"I would like to urge the IOA to mend their ways with the IOC as soon as possible and end India's Olympic exile. It's the athletes who are suffering as they are unable to compete under the tri-colour in major international events," Yogeshwar told PTI here.
"Wrestling's re-inclusion in the Olympic movement is a great news for the fraternity. The decision will motivate the upcoming grapplers like Narsingh Yadav, Amit Kumar, Bajrang and others to take up the sport. But what motivates them the most is to go to a championship and play under the Indian flag. That's the biggest incentive," he said.
The Indian Olympic Association has been in exile since December 2012 for electing officials charged with corruption. The world body has asked the IOC to sack "charge-framed" officials through constitutional amendments by October 31 and conduct fresh elections by December 15 to return to the Olympic fold.
The London Olympics bronze-medallist further said the athletes want a clean and effective Olympic body which will help Indian sports to grow.
"We want a clean image of Indian sports. We, the athletes, don't want to become part of the ongoing differences between the IOA and IOC....What we want is to compete for India and win a medal for the country. We feel disappointed and humiliated when we participate under the IOC banner."
Yogeshwar, however, refused to comment on the IOC's directive, which bars any person charged with corruption from holding office in the IOA.
"I don't want to comment on that. We have to abide by the law of the land but, at the same time, we have to adopt IOC's measure to ensure good governance. IOA needs to find out a solution to this in discussion with the IOC to get the suspension lifted," he said.
