In Picture: Indian national flag hoisted at Olympic Museum in Lausanne to honor IOA president PT Usha's visit
The Indian national flag flew high at the famous Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday, May 4, to mark the visit of PT Usha. The legendary former sprinter is the current president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
Her trip to Lausanne began on Thursday, May 2, when she visited the Olympic House in the Swiss city for a meeting on the Olympic Movement. This was followed by a meeting on the topic of governance in sports with two senior office-bearers of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Usha was in Lausanne for two more days, before leaving for Paris and arriving there today. In the host city of the 2024 Olympics, she met the Indian Ambassador to France, Jawed Ashraf.
Prior to leaving for France, she visited the Olympic Museum where the Indian tricolor was hoisted to honor the IOA president.
Here is the picture of the occasion shared on social media:
These visits of PT Usha are important as they come with less than three months remaining for the Paris Olympics.
Trouble brewing in IOA over PT Usha's actions
While PT Usha is in Europe, there are serious internal issues raising their head in the internal functioning of the IOA.
The executive committee of the association seems disgruntled by Usha's style of functioning and is waging a fight against her.
One of the major issues that angered the committee was the appointment of Raghuram Iyer as the CEO of IOA. Along with that, the appointment of Ajay Narang as the executive assistant to Usha also riled up the committee. It voted for the removal of both persons.
The executive committee was apparently also unhappy with the way boxing legend Mary Kom was appointed as Chef de Mission for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The former boxing world champion later withdrew herself from the position citing 'personal reasons'.
Allegations have been made that PT Usha has acted unilaterally on several occasions without consulting the committee.
With the Paris 2024 Olympics drawing near, such issues are a major headache for sports administrators in India. Hopefully, the players will remain unaffected by these matters.