The cat and mouse fight at the Indian Olympic Association intensified as treausrer Sahdev Yadav hit back at President PT Usha for claiming that IOA Executive Committee members failed to honour Olympic medallists.
Sahdev called PT Usha’s claim a ‘blatant lie’ on Tuesday.
Usha on Monday claimed that she was concerned about the fact that the EC members failed to honour Olympic medallists and accused the Finance Committee of blocking funds intended to support Indian athletes’ preparation for the Paris Games.
“It is deeply concerning that, even after returning home in mid-August, the EC has failed to discuss or take any steps towards organizing a formal felicitation ceremony. EC does not want to celebrate their success and it makes me very sad.These athletes have made the nation proud, and it is the responsibility of the IOA to celebrate their achievements with the respect they deserve,” Usha said in a press statement on Monday.
She had also revealed that a proposal for a preparatory grant of Rs two lakh for each Olympic-bound athlete and Rs one lakh for each coach had been blocked by the Finance Committee, notably by Sahdev.
Sahdev, who is also the president of the Indian Weightlifting Federation, accused Usha of “spreading lies” and “cooking up” things instead of taking responsibilities as per the IOA constitution.
In a rebuttal to Usha’s claims, Sahdev said, “There has been no discussion with EC members nor any official proposal in writing for organizing a felicitation ceremony for the medallists of Paris Olympics 2024.”
“We fail to understand why IOA President is spreading lies across the whole country, to put down the EC members, which does not have any proof nor hold any genuine ground,” he added further.
The internal feud within the IOA has been on since the appointment of Raghuram Iyer as its CEO on January 5. Iyer has Usha’s backing while the EC members are unanimous in demanding his removal.
The bone of contention has been his salary of Rs 20 lakh per month, along with perks.
On September 26, an EC meeting was called to resolve the issue on the insistence of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) but the deadlock remained.
On Saturday, the 12 EC members sent a letter to senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) official Jerome Poivey, accusing Usha of running the organisation in an “autocratic” manner after she rejected their demand to remove Iyer as IOA CEO during the contentious meeting.