Is Anurag Thakur’s hat in BFI ring the prelude to a shot at IOA presidency? | More sports News

Anurag Thakur (PTI Photo)

With IOA polls next year, this could be ex-sports min’s Queen’s gambit
NEW DELHI: It was business as usual in Indian sport till about a week ago, when a former sports minister declared his intention to contest the elections of a national federation. Emerging from somewhat of a hiatus in sport administration, Anurag Thakur, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union minister, submitted his nomination to contest the Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) elections for a prospective president’s position. The move caused observers of Indian sports to sit up and take notice.
If elected, what would have prompted a former Union minister to vie for a federation’s presidency, a post that would potentially entail seeking directions from a sports secretary or director general (DG) of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) during the NSFs meeting?
Last month, the BFI had been suspended and brought under administration by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president, former Olympian PT Usha, in a move that was seen as controversial. Her detractors within the IOA alleged that she had acted without consulting her executive committee (EC). After golf, wrestling and the Bihar state Olympic Association, it was another instance of a sports body being suspended as directed by the IOA under Usha.
For her part, Usha had alleged that BFI — under the presidency of Ajay Singh — had, among other things such as failing to send participants to prestigious international tournaments or drawing up a roadmap for the next Olympic cycle, failed to conduct elections in time, making the suspension necessary.
The courts soon overruled the suspension and asked for elections to be announced. However, even as all this looked like a win for Ajay Singh, this is probably where the ball began rolling.
That the EC of the IOA is split down the middle is a little-kept secret in sports circles for a while now. Recurring conflicts over decision-making, functioning and interference have pit the current IOA president on one side and her EC on the other. While she has alleged that members within the EC have made it difficult for her to function, Usha’s recurring conflicts with her own members, the sports ministry and NSFs regarding ad-hoc committee appointments have been seen as high-handed.
With the government working seriously to bring the 2036 Olympics to India, a divided house in the IOA, despite both sides owing allegiance to the ruling dispensation, is hardly the best optics.
With the IOA elections scheduled in 2026, the timing of Thakur’s candidature — even if his nomination was rejected by the Ajay Singh dispensation on the grounds that it was in violation of the sports code — serves as a pathway towards pursuing the IOA presidency next year.
According to clause 4.1 of IOA’s election byelaws, individuals duly affiliated with IOA as member NSF under Article 10 of the constitution possess the right to contest and vote in office bearer elections. Consequently, eligibility for national Olympic committee’s elections requires current position as an elected office-bearer of an NSF, contextualising Thakur’s BFI presidential aspirations.
It must be noted that Thakur was the sports minister and Usha the IOA chief when India’s women wrestlers staged a prolonged sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in 2023 against five-time MP and Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) former president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who faced accusations of sexually harassing female grapplers.
With Thakur, and all his previous experience as nominated and executive committee member in various NSFs, potentially in the fray, it is also being seen as a quiet phasing out of forces in the IOA. Removing a distinguished athlete like Usha mid-tenure would prove problematic, necessitating an experienced successor for the subsequent election. Thakur’s return suddenly ticks all the boxes.