Indian para-athletes to take part in international events

New Delhi In a big boost to Indias paraathletes the International Paralympic Committee today gave them permission to compete at international competitions under the IPC flag in spite of the ban slapped on the national bodyIn a letter to the sports ministry the IPC appreciated the governments suggestion to set up an adhoc committee to run paralympic affairs in the country and sought the details of persons who can be part of such a panelImmediately after the IPC suspended Paralympic Committee of India on April 17 due to internal bickering the sports ministry had followed suit to derecognise the PCI for the shabby treatment of paraathletes during the National ParaAthletics Championships in Ghaziabad in MarchSubsequently the ministry had written a letter to the IPC proposing to set up an adhoc committee to run paralympic affairs in the country and to arrange for a mechanism for Indian paraathletes to take part in international events with Sports Authority of India sending entries of such athletesIn order not to penalise Indian athletes we have decided to enable athletes who are already licensed in our SDMS Sport Data Management System to participate in competitions Please note that these athletes will not represent their country but will be competing under the IPC flag for the moment IPC Chief Executive Officer Xavier Gonzalez said in the letter to the sports ministryWe take good note that the Government of India has also suspended PCI We do appreciate your concern about the athletes and would like to assure you that we also have their best interest in mind and we will make sure they are not too affected by this sanction the letter saidThe IPCs approval would benefit around 300 Indian paraathletes whose names are already there in the IPC Sport Data Management System SDMS for this year including the likes of 2012 London Paralympic silver medallist H N Girisha 2004 Athens Paralympics gold winner Devendra Jhajharia and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games medallists Rajinder Singh Rahelu and Sakina KhatunEach year every national body will have to enter names of paraathletes to the SDMS for IPC to grant licenseWe already have around 300 Indian paraathletes who have already got license in view of the now postponed Indian Open Para Games which was to be held early this month PCI Secretary General J Chandrashekar told PTIThree international events IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow IPC Shooting World Cup in Croatia and IPC Powerlifting Asia Open Championship in Kazakhstan are lined up in July for Indian paraathletes to take partThey will be followed by the highprofile IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha in October All these international events are qualifying events for the 2016 Rio Paralympic GamesRegarding the sport ministrys suggestion to set up an adhoc committee to run Paralympic affairs in the country the IPC said We do appreciate your suggestion of creating and adhoc committee to administer Paralympic matters and would gladly appreciate your support in establishing this bodyAs a first step may we please request that you send us the name and contact details of the person who would be able to work with us in this regard so that we can already start the process the world body said in the letter a copy of which was also marked to the sacked PCI President Rajesh Tomar who was removed by the national body in its Annual General Meeting in Bangalore on May 17 through a No Confidence MotionThe IPC said the suspension of the PCI will remain until the infighting within the national body is stopped We keep receiving communications and documents from both groups involved in the dispute as well as other parties we cannot identify We would like to clarify that the suspension of PCI is maintained and will remain so until we have identified a solution to the situation the IPC said in the letter to the sports ministryOur intention is to reform PCI and start anew with a refreshed organisation with good grounds to evolve and develop parasports in India it said There is also another faction of Paralympic Committee of India headed by BJP Member of Parliament Rao Inderjit Singh which had called an AGM on May 15