Shahnawaz Hussain's charge countered

Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi has lashed out at former Minister of State for Sports Shahnawaz Hussain following his charge that most of the officials had gone to Sydney on a "joyride".

"Shahnawaz was there himself, his wife also came. His personal secretary came; the wife of PS also came. It fell on the Olympic association to look after them," Kalmadi says in response to a question on Star TV's 'Janata Ki Adalat', to be broadcast on Sunday, October 15.

About the presence of large number of officials, Kalmadi said, as per International Olympic Committee norms, out of the delegation of 108, there were 71 athletes, 20 coaches, 6 managers, 10 of medical team, the IOA Chef de mission, deputy Chef de mission, secretary and three to four administrative staff.

"Other officials went there separately for the Asian Games 2006 bid," a statement from Star TV quoted Kalmadi as saying.

On Karnam Malleshwari's charge that only three Indian officials were present when she won the bronze medal, Kalmadi said, "Yes, I was there, my secretary-general was there, but the sports minister (Shahnawaz Hussain) was not there. He had gone sightseeing to Blue Mountains or the Gold Coast. Ask him."

Kalmadi rejected the demand that he should own moral responsibility for India's dismal performance in the Olympics and resign.

"I am not one to run away. If it was my fourth term or say 10-12 years, and had I not delivered, then this notion would have arisen. But this is my first term. I have organised two National Games, brought in infrastructure. Our performance has been excellent at the Asian and Commonwealth Games. The players have got more incentives, income tax exemption has been given to corporates and an MOU has been signed with CII. And India will definitely get medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. We are on the way," the IOA chief said in the interview.

He called for a fresh look at long-term planning. "The government is answerable. Out of a total budget of Rs 100 crore, Rs 90 crore goes to SAI. The salaries of bureaucrats constitutes Rs 70-80 crore. There is nothing for sports in this country. Not a penny for federations and the Olympics Association. We have to raise our own."

Kalmadi praised the performance of the Indian women at Sydney. "Malleswari took a bronze, Chanu (Sanamacha) came sixth, but those, who came fourth, fifth and sixth lifted the same weights. Anjali Ved Pathak reached the shooting finals for the first time, Beenamol reached the semi-finals for the first time. So women's performance has been good and our performance in hockey too...it was just a question of a minute in reaching the semi-finals. But overall performance has been good, nothing to be disappointed about."

He added: "For the first time we were in the run for 4-5 medals, which was never the case before...we are progressing but there is a big gap."