Batra blasts Sports Ministry's policy

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra expressed deep reservation regarding Sports Ministry's policy of receiving prior notice from National Sports Federation (NSFs) and Indian Olympic Association before bidding for international events.

The ministry has also spelt out clear-cut rules to seek its approval, failing which the ministry reserves the right to not support the event.

Batra blamed the recent injunction on a few "idiotic bureaucrats."

"Of late, there have been many letters to federations saying that before hosting an event one needs to take permission from the government. Sometimes we have idiotic bureaucrats coming in and they have made everyone's life miserable," Batra said.

"You need some intelligent people who understand sports rather than some joker coming in from Mars and giving ideas, while they themselves have zero ideas about what is happening."

As per the new rules, the federations would now have to submit an approximate figure of financial assistance that might be required, among other things.

"They are putting so many conditions that no sporting event can be hosted. This (taking prior permission) can happen for Olympics or Asian Games. But for small-level events, where eight to 16 teams are coming, this is absolutely tough," Batra said.