"Ego clashes" blamed for
Afro-Asian Games delay

Sports Minister Uma Bharti said on Wednesday "ego clashes" among sports officials forced the government to postpone the first Afro-Asian Games set for this November.

She ruled out holding the Games as scheduled a day after the Indian Olympic Association said it had won an assurance from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to review the decision.

The Sports Ministry had on Tuesday directed the IOA to postpone the Games, scheduled from November 3 to 11, without giving any reason.

They were slated to feature athletics, boxing, hockey, shooting, soccer, swimming, tennis and weightlifting.

"I am sad it had to be postponed due to the ego clashes of top sports managers of the country who do not care for the prestige of the country," Bharti told PTI.

The minister did not name the sports officials, but said: "The government was ready to organise the Afro-Asian Games but could not organise the organising committee."

Local media had reported that IOA president Suresh Kalmadi and Vijay Kumar Malhotra, a senior leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and IOA vice-president, were locked in a tussle over who should head the organising panel.

"Efforts were made by my cabinet colleagues to amicably settle the issue of who should head the organising committee, but the warring factions would not see logic," the minister was quoted by PTI as saying.

Kalmadi said on Wednesday that he met Vajpayee and the Prime Minister agreed to review the postponement in a meeting where Bharti would also be present.

"The Afro-Asian Games is an international commitment. There is no going back," Kalmadi said.

The IOA chief had said the infrastructure for the Games was not in place but renovation work could be completed in the six months left for the event.

Kalmadi said on Wednesday the Games would cost 650 million rupees and offered to raise 200 million rupees, already allocated by the government, through corporate sponsorship.

But Bharti criticised the running of the IOA. "They have not even been able to account for whatever they have spent," she told PTI.