First FIFA's AIFF, now IOA, what lies at stake for India's sporting federations? EXPLAINED

The past couple of days has witnessed the Committee of Administrators (CoA) headlining Indian sports. However, the top sporting federations in the country have been affected by the court-appointed body in the past too. The COA's rule will not only include a fresh constitution but also the handling of election processes to appoint office bearers having fixed tenures and age caps. We take a look at various sporting bodies in India which were affected by COA's intervention. 

National sports bodies under COA scanner 

AIFF 

The All India Football Federation was banned by FIFA just a couple of days back due to the interference of a third party. The ban meant India also lost the right to host the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in October. The COA came into the picture once Praful Patel was removed from the president's post. Meanwhile, FIFA said that the ban will be lifted once the AIFF administration regains full control of the national body’s daily affairs.

Indian Olympic Association

The Delhi High Court had recently appointed COA to take over the affairs of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) only for the Supreme Court to provide interim relief. The ban on IOA still looms as it is yet to conduct elections despite the threat from IOC to suspend the body. Back in 2012, the IOA was suspended by the International Olympic Committee for more than a year due to tainted officials and government interference in the association. 

Hockey India 

The COA was appointed to look into the daily affairs of Hockey India after former India player Aslam Sher Khan challenged Indian IOA President Narinder Batra's appointment as life member. However, the high court maintained that Batra's life membership and HI CEO Elena Norman's post was illegal. Hockey India, thanks to support from FIH, has a lifeline for its survival with October 9 being set as the date to conduct elections.

Boxing Federation of India

While Indian boxers have been bringing glory to the nation at the international stage, the boxing community was hit with controversy on the administrative front. The Indian Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) in 2012 was suspended by International Amateur Boxing Federation (AIBF) – for manipulating elections. A year later the body was dissolved and out came Boxing India (BI) which was later recognised by the world body. However, due to infighting in BI, the AIBF decided to suspend the body and the matters were given to the hands of the ad-hoc body. 

Archery

The Archery Association of India also faced the brunt of suspension for two bodies running the game in the country by the World Archery Federation in 2019. However, in early 2020, the suspension was lifted after the completion of elections for the Archery Association of India.

BCCI

The match-fixing scandal during the Indian Premier League in 2013 saw CoA being brought into play to handle BCCI matters. The CoA stint finally came to an end in 2019 with Sourav Ganguly becoming the president following the successful elections conducted by BCCI. Jay Shah was appointed as the secretary of the cricket board.