Rabble Rousing Random Ramblings: IOA announces withdrawal of India's IOC membership after Abhinav Bindra wins gold at Beijing

August 11, 2008

IOA announces withdrawal of India's IOC membership after Abhinav Bindra wins gold at Beijing

In an unprecedented move, Suresh Kalmadi, President of the IOA since 1996, announced that the Indian Olympic Association would be withdrawing from its membership of the International Olympic Committee.

Mr. Kalmadi's announcement came in Beijing, shortly after Abhinav Bindra won India its first ever individual gold medal at the Olympics. Mr. Kalmadi was quoted as saying

We won a bronze in 1996 through Leander Paes and in 2000 through Karnam Malleswari. In 2004, we won a silver, thanks to Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Now, we have won gold. The progress is fairly obvious.

I had a frank discussion with the IOC board about instituting Diamond and Platinum medals for higher achievements, but the IOA's request was rebuffed. Having won gold, there're no more challenges. Since there is now nothing more left for India to achieve, we do not see any point in participating in the Olympics henceforth. However, all athletes who have been picked for the current games in Beijing will get to compete. Thanks to Abhinav Bindra, there's so much less pressure on them now to win more medals!

I congratulate the honorary officials of the Indian Olympic Association, our Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, the MLAs from all the states, the National Rifle Association of India and the various officials of the Olympic contingent in Beijing for this achievement. Since our various sports federations and committees have proved that we can produce Olympic gold medallists, I am pleased to announce that the elections to all federations have been postponed by 25 years.

Labels: abhinav bindra, gold medal, india, kalmadi, olympics, shooting, sports

Rambled @ 12:24 PM

Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - | | Tweet ]

5 comment(s)

*tears in eyes... from laughter*
height of pomposity!! (not to say idiocy...)

By Vedang (Aug 11, 2008, 9:06:00 PM)

Indeed, even the athletes too seem to think that there's nothing more to win. Perhaps they think one amongst them has done it, why should they exert?

By Unknown (Aug 13, 2008, 12:12:00 AM)

it seems like you are the only one who has this news....its no where else either on internet or on news channels..
Please provide us with the source of ur news

By Unknown (Aug 13, 2008, 1:53:00 AM)

vedang: Thanks. The reaction in most quarters sort of justifies the post. To put things in perspective, Michael Phelps, by himself, has 10 golds - the 2nd highest of all time. He's targeting 4 more to get 8 in this games. He's 23 years old. That is positively scary. India has a total of 16 medals at the Olympics to date. Phelps has 12, and will draw level with India if he achieves his goal.

malhar: Quite possible. I'm not trying to say that they're deliberately going to ease up, but the pressure is now off. Anything else is a bonus!

grishma: It's called sarcasm.

By Jagadish (Aug 13, 2008, 11:39:00 AM)

Nice Post..
Indeed I was thinking that they should remove India from the list of medal winners and keep Abhinav Bindra insted. :). It's just his achievment India has nothing to clebrate(specially the IOA)

By jupallis (Aug 13, 2008, 8:24:00 PM)

I'd prefer if you posted comments with your real name to add more credibility to your opinions. Obviously comments containing offensive and unsuitable language will be deleted. The opinions in the comments are your own views. You are welcome to provide a URL to your own blog, especially if it discusses issues you find here.

IOA announces withdrawal of India's IOC membership after Abhinav Bindra wins gold at Beijing

Post a Comment

Previous Posts