Randhir says need more Indian representation in international bodies

As he gets ready to officially take over as the new Olympic Council of Asia president, Raja Randhir Singh has said that the Indian government needs to relook at the sports code that restricts tenure of office bearers. Randhir points to the fact that restrictions bar Indian administrators from taking up important roles in international federations.

Randhir’s journey in sports administration began with Delhi’s athletics body in 1983. He then had decades of experience within the Indian Olympic Association and as an International Olympic Committee member from India.

Randhir cited the inclusion of yoga in the Asian Games sports programme as an example as to how the sports world operates. OCA’s executive board and sports committee have already passed a resolution to include yoga as a demonstration sport in the 2026 Asian Games to be held in Aichi and Nagoya in Japan. A final call will be taken during the General Assembly on Sunday.

“Yes (as administrators) you should contribute, take the athletes to competition; we are doing everything correctly. But if you don’t have a representative in the IOC, the OCA or the Commonwealth body, you do not have a say,” Randhir, a former Asian Games gold medallist, told The Tribune on Thursday.

“Today, how did we get yoga in? People have been waiting for 10 years to get their sport in; here in one month it is on the Asian Games programme. If you have your people in the right places, it can happen,” he added.

Randhir, who started as a cricketer before moving to shooting, wants the government to have a rethink on its sports policy. The National Sports Development Code of India, 2011, restricts three terms for executive positions, including that of the president.

“The government should rethink. If I were in their place, I would say that I would go by the rules of the international federations; and if the international federations have no such restriction, why are we stopping them,” he said.

“We are killing ourselves. There are only four Indians left in international administrations — K Govindraj (basketball), Malav Shroff (yachting), Mukesh Kumar (judo) and Omkar Singh (cycling). Many had to leave the federation because they had completed 12 years. My daughter (Sunaina Kumari) was the lawn bowls president. She was on the path (towards the international body) but she had to step down as she had completed 12 years. Her career ended when she was 40. She could have gone further,” he added.