Ending a prolonged feud, the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) Executive Council ratified the appointment of CEO Raghuram Iyer on Thursday and set up a panel to tackle doping after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) flagged India’s poor record during a national delegation’s visit to push for the 2036 Olympic bid.

The Executive Council members had refused to ratify Iyer’s appointment made by President P T Usha in January 2024 with his Rs 20 lakh per month salary, along with other perks, being the bone of contention. However, the differences were resolved after Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s intervention, thus paving the way for Iyer’s formal appointment.

The seven-member anti-doping panel will be headed by former tennis player Rohit Rajpal and include Aparna Popat and sports medicine expert Dr PSM Chandran as members, among others.

“The IOC mentioned high doping cases in India when IOA visited Lausanne,” said Iyer, who was present during a joint press conference by the IOA EC members and Usha. The IOA delegation to Lausanne last month included sports secretary Hari Ranjan Rao, Usha and Gujarat Sports Minister Harsh Sanghavi, among others. India is bidding for the 2036 Games in Ahmedabad.

India had last month topped the World Anti-Doping Agency’s 2023 testing figures among countries which analysed 5,000 or more samples with a high positivity rate of 3.8 per cent for banned substances.

IOA welcomes Sports Bill

After opposing it for a considerable time, the IOA finally welcomed the new Sports Bill, which was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. “The IOC was concerned about two-three issues, but the ministry consulted the world body and other international federations, and then the Bill was cleared,” Usha said.

The Bill, once it becomes an act, will lead to the institution of a National Sports Board which will be authorised to grant recognition to national federations and regulate their funding as well.

“The new National Sports Bill should not be construed as intervention from the sports ministry, but as cooperation and coordination with the stakeholders, including IOA and NSFs (National Sports Federations). The new Bill is very clear that whenever there is conflict in any provision with the statutes of international federations, those of international federations will prevail,” said Indian Olympic Association joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey, who is also the president of the All India Football Federation.