Skier Arif’s Olympic preparation suffers as IOA officials bicker

New Delhi: The infighting within the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has started to impact the athletes. Winter Olympian Arif Khan’s training for 2026 Winter Olympics has taken a hit as the scholarship funds provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for his preparation have not been released by the IOA finance committee.

Under the Olympic Solidarity funding for National Olympic Committees, the IOC approved an Olympic scholarship of $6,000 for Arif’s preparation for Milano Cortina Games and transferred the funds to IOA on May 8. However, the fund has been held back by the IOA finance committee.

Such is the sad state of affairs that president PT Usha has written to IOC officials to transfer the amount directly to the athlete’s account. Even more bizarre is the IOA finance committee, headed by Sr vice president Ajay Patel, questioning Arif’s selection by the IOC for the Olympic scholarship programme. Arif represented India at the 2022 winter Olympics in the slalom and giant slalom events.

“The funds were intended to be disbursed to the athlete promptly, ensuring that his training activities are not disrupted due to a lack of financial support. However, it is with regret that I must inform you that the Finance Committee of the IOA has not yet released the fund. Instead, they have questioned the rationale behind Sh Arif Khan’s selection for the funding by the IOC,” Usha has written in a letter to Edward Kensington, Olympic Solidarity Continental Manager, Asia, a copy of which is with HT.

The majority of IOA executive committee members and president Usha have been at loggerheads since the appointment of CEO Raghu Iyer in January this year. The situation has severely affected the functioning of the body, be it governance or clearance of funds.

Arif has been writing to IOA officials ever since the funds were ‘blocked.’

“Despite my numerous attempts to resolve this matter through emails to various IOA officials, there has been no progress or initiative taken to address this issue. The delay in the release of these funds is severely impacting my training schedule and preparation for the winter Olympics,” Arif wrote to President Usha, who took over the reins of the IOA in December 2022.

The IOC has been keeping a close watch on the situation and doing their bit to resolve the crisis within IOA. However, with episodes like this, they may soon run out of patience.

“We are aware that these funds have not been transferred to you by your NOC and we have been following up with them on a regular basis. Indeed, due to an internal conflict within your NOC the release of the payment has until now been blocked. Our institutional relations and government department is working with the IOA to try and resolve the internal conflict,” Edward said, while adding that IOC’s Olympic Solidarity department has started the procedure for IOA to make a request for direct transfer of money.