IOA chief has made a mockery of sports, claims Sunita Godara

New Delhi [India], Jan.10 (ANI): Hours after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) decided to revoke its decision of appointing scam-tainted Abhay Chautala and Suresh Kalmadi as its life presidents, former marathon runner Sunita Godara on Tuesday slammed the national Olympic body and its president Narayana Ramachandran for making a mockery of sports. "IOA president N. Ramachandran has made a mockery of sports and a mockery of IOA. Kalmadi withdrew his name. If he was not appointed as a life president then as to why he is withdrawing. Secondly, Batra has also resigned. So, if nothing has happened why would they resign," Godara told ANI. Godara further insisted that the officials heading the IOA do not deserve to be in sports and, therefore, the Sports Ministry should take strict action against them. "Now, they have taken a u-turn. These people do not deserve to be in sports because they are those people who are sucking the blood of sports and ruining the sports arena. Every time they are lying. They are eating on sports, they are not bothering about sportspersons. Sports Ministry has to take action," she said. "IOA getting some resolution in the meeting and after 15 days they wasted media's time, they wasted ministry's time, everybody's time and they have made a mockery out of it. These people should be barred from sports," Godara added. Earlier today, IOA president Ramachandran denied passing of any resolution to appoint Chautala and Kalmadi as life presidents in the Annual General Meeting ( AGM) in Chennai. According to the sources, the decision to appoint Chautala and Kalmadi as life presidents was unanimous. A resolution was moved by Joint Secretary Rakesh Gupta and a total of 150 people, who were a part of the meeting in Chennai, agreed to it. The move to elevate the scam-tainted duo to the honorary position in the IOA shocked the Indian sporting landscape and left the Sports Ministry fuming. While Kalmadi was the first one to voluntarily decide to step down from the post, Chautala, former IOA president, had insisted that he is ready to relinquish the post if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) tells him to do so. Last month, Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel had informed that the sports ministry has suspended the recognition granted to the IOA until it reverses its decision on appointments of Kalmadi and Chautala. IOA's assistant vice-president Narinder Batra had also resigned from his post in protest over the appointments of Kalmadi and Chautala as life presidents. Kalmadi served as the IOA president from 1996 to 2011 and was jailed for 10 months for his involvement in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games corruption scandal but later released on bail. Chautala, on the other hand, served as the president of the IOA from December 2012 to February 2014 when the IOA was suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for fielding charge-sheeted candidates at the elections. His election as IOA chief was annulled by the IOC. (ANI)