Sports Ministry Suspends Table Tennis Federation Of India's Recognition Over Governance Failures

The Sports Ministry has suspended the recognition of the Table Tennis Federation of India with immediate effect, citing governance issues. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has been instructed to form an ad hoc committee to run the organisation until a solution arrives.

"The IOA, in consultation with the international body (ITTF) will take appropriate action to create an internal regulatory mechanism, including the constitution of an ad-hoc committee, till such time that a duly constituted governance structure is restored in TTFI," the sports ministry order stated.

The development came after TTFI failed to hold elections within the given time. The ministry also reiterated that the TTFI's answer to a show cause notice wasn't satisfactory and these factors worked behind the decision which led to the suspension.

This is not the first time the Table Tennis Federation of India hogged the limelight. Earlier, Manika Batra accused the federation of not having a transparent selection process for the Asian games took to social media to express her disappointment. TTFI selected the squad based on a policy that allocates 50 per cent weightage to national rankings, 40 per cent to world rankings and 10 per cent to the selection committee's discretion.

The federation is currently headed by Meghna Ahlawat, its first woman president. The TTFI has also faced internal factionalism and disputes over its functioning and decision-making processes. The TTFI had also faced administrative intervention in 2022 following a dispute over its functioning, while further internal differences emerged this year after then Secretary General Kamlesh Mehta was suspended by the federation over alleged financial irregularities and unauthorised decisions. The Delhi High Court later overturned his suspension while taking note of factionalism within the federation.

Recognition of a national sports federation by the Sports Ministry is subject to compliance with the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011, including provisions relating to elections, office-bearer tenure and governance.
The suspension will remain in place until the TTFI restores a compliant governance structure, with the sport to be administered through the interim mechanism in the meantime. 

(With ANI Inputs)