New Delhi: An alarming shortage of professionals in the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), mismanagement in its functioning and control by people with no sporting experience have reduced the body to “a courier service” sending entries for events. And for the collection of funds and grants, a Committee of Administrators (CoA) headed by Justice Gita Mittal said this.
The panel highlighted these points in a report submitted to the Delhi High Court on September 12, which was accessed by ThePrint.
The committee, in its report, has suggested reforms for the TTFI, noting major flaws in its governance, and called for systemic reforms in the functioning of the national federation.
The three-member CoA was constituted in february To run the TFFI’s affairs, table tennis champion Manika Batra moved the High Court alleging bias in the sports governing body’s selection process.
As per its charter of duties, the panel headed by former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Mittal has to conduct tournaments apart from discharging administrative and routine duties.
Other points highlighted in the report include non-transparency in the selection of players, resistance to reforms and less communication between stakeholders.
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‘The whims and whims of the authorities’
The COA report said if the federation performs its duties properly, acts professionally, trains players and identifies talent, the sport will produce good results.
However, the federation is abusing its position to feed into the whims and whims of officials having no regard for the welfare of the players, it adds.
In order to address the shortage of manpower, it recommends hiring professionals, coaches and consultants as per the necessary guidelines and suggests that a national level camp be set up in Bengaluru.
The committee also flagged the unfair selection of players. “There is no transparency in the policy for selection, or in any other policy matters for that matter,” it said, and outlined measures to implement “detailed ranking criteria” and selection guidelines for international tournaments.
The panel said there was a lack of interaction between the federation and other stakeholders including players, coaches and state associations.
To put an end to such conflict, it recommended regulation of player transfers through a comprehensive policy. It also suggested electronic draws for national and international tournaments.
To increase the reach, development of sports infrastructure in Tier-III and Tier-IV cities was also proposed.
The committee proposed a ‘Centre of Excellence’ with specialist coaches at the national and regional level to support the players. It also recommended the development of the game for para players.
Compliance with the National Sports Code – which aims to bring transparency and accountability in the working of national sports federations – was also advised for TTFI.
“The Federation, as in the present case, must immediately make the Table Tennis Federation of India its home in order to remain relevant,” the report said.
‘Every effort to stop the progressive steps’
The panel noted that despite the court’s specific instructions to cooperate, “every effort” [was] designed to prevent any progressive move” and that there was no attempt by the officials of TTFI to raise funds from private or public bodies. Existing funding was also withheld to create financial crunch for TFFI, it disclosed.
“Experts, other stakeholders, former international players of highly reputed and reputed coaches have been completely marginalised,” the report said.
The committee marked the location of the Federation office as a ‘grossly unsuitable’ part of the city. Presently, the office is located on Rohtak Road at a great distance from the city. It recommended that the office be moved to a more accessible, suitable part of the city.
Akshat Jain is a student of National Law University, Delhi and an intern with ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rae)
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