Paralympic Committee of India suspended by world body

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 17

The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) has been suspended by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for an indefinite period over infighting within the body.

In a letter to the PCI, the world governing body says “the situation in PCI has been chaotic for several years now, which is mostly due to individual conflicts at the national level between different groups and persons.”

Following the suspension, the Sports Ministry also swung into action and issued a show-cause notice to the PCI, asking as to why the government recognition should not be withdrawn for violation of rules. It has been learnt that the Ministry has more or less made up its mind to withdraw the affiliation shortly.

The Ministry is particularly miffed with the PCI over the charges of siphoning off funds earmarked for the disabled athletes and gross mismanagement at the National Para-Athletics Championship in Ghaziabad last month. At the venue of the competition, the wheelchair-bound athletes could not use the unsuitable ramps, toilets were dirty, without water, and the rooms were cramped. 

This is third time in four years that the PCI has been suspended by the world body after it was recognised as an NSF in November 2011. 

IPC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Xavier Gonzalez informed suspended PCI president Rajesh Tomar about the decision via his letter dated April 15, which was made public only on Friday.

“We would like to inform you that we have taken the decision to suspend the PCI with immediate effect for an unlimited period of time. We regret to have had to take that decision. The IPC has for all this time always tried to help and support its official member. Unfortunately, to this day, it seems that a lot of unresolved conflicts are still undermining the development of the Paralympic movement in India,” Gozalez wrote from Bonn.

The letter added that PCI will remain suspended until the IPC has “enough guarantee that an understanding between the various parties has been found at the national level and that a sustainable solution has been worked out for the long-term benefit and development of the athletes”.

The suspension would hit the Indian para-athletes the most as they will not be allowed to enter any IPC-sanctioned competition, including the Indian Open Para Games in Delhi from May 2-9 and next year’s Paralympic Games at Rio de Janeiro.

“The news has not come as a surprise to me. It was bound to happen as the PCI office-bearers have always been concerned with their own interests, have never thought about the well-being of athletes. Nothing will happen to them; it’s us, the para-athletes, who have been hit by the suspension. We are staring at a dark future with no competition to participate,” said Jagsir Singh, Guangzhou Para-Asian Games gold medallist and Arjuna awardee.

There are two factions in the PCI, one headed by Tomar and other by secretary general J Chandrashekar. Recently, the Tomar group had suspended the five office-bearers of the PCI owing allegiance to Chandrashekar group. In retaliation, the PCI Executive Council suspended president Tomar at its meeting in Bangalore.

Interestingly, the IPC letter did not make any mention of the Ghaziabad championship, which became a flashpoint between the Ministry and the PCI. The IPC had asked the PCI to inquire into the shoddy arrangements and had even asked for a report, but the world governing body skipping the issue in the letter is quite surprising.

Chandrashekar said that the PCI will approach the Ministry to intervene in the matter and get the suspension revoked. However, the chances of such a development look quite bleak since the Ministry is itself on the verge of disaffiliating the PCI.