Why Sports Ministry’s ban on 54 NSFs can have snowball effect in build-up to Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics has been pushed back by a year owing to the health crisis, giving athletes some valuable time to prepare for the event. Looking at the present-day situation, they have already lost months of practice, but we need to find the light at the end of the tunnel. The government of India has given them permission to avail sports facilities, with social distancing norms in place. The decision came in a glimmer of hope for the Tokyo-bound athletes, with the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) set to restart its national training camps in July. But on the contrary, the bold move to withdraw the annual recognition of the associations could prove to be a major roadblock in the build-up to the Olympics. 

The annual recognition of the National Sports Federations are granted every year in January, but unfortunately, as per reports, the process took longer than usual in 2020 due to the negligence of the Sports Ministry. Before the legalities were completed, the pandemic struck and a lockdown was imposed, in lieu of which the government decided to extend the provisional recognition till September, but it was revoked due to alleged foul play from the Indian Olympic Association to create parallel bodies. In the fiasco, once again the athletes are set to take the maximum beating and we need to understand why.

Meanwhile, Railway concessions can no longer be availed by the athletes to travel for camps and competitions. More importantly, sponsorship deals could get snapped as corporate bodies won’t be inclined to associate itself with a de-recognised association while smaller NSFs would suffer the most as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities are not happening because of the lockdown. That’s the gravity of the situation we might face in the future. But Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju airily dodged the situation, having stated that the court's decision must be respected, even though they would keep on helping athletes. 

Even though the impact of the decision might not be too detrimental at present, it can surely have a snowball effect. For instance, Tokyo-bound boxers have already started assembling at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala, while the National Rifle Association (NRAI) of India is aiming for a resumption this week itself. Likewise, other associations are devising ways to attain normalcy. With the bodies still not granted recognition, they could easily find themselves in a financial crunch once the camps begin at full strength. Training will be disrupted inevitably, which in turn would hamper the progress of the athletes. And there cannot be a worse time to face such roadblocks - with less than 12 months left for them to board the flight to Tokyo.