BAI bows to ministry, accepts age and tenure limit guidelines

New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) After being at loggerheads withthe Sports Ministry for long, the Badminton Association ofIndia has finally agreed to adhere to the age and tenurelimitation guidelines, taking the total number of consentingfederations to 24.

"24 National Sports Federations (NSFs) have conveyedtheir acceptance to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sportstill date, to incorporate age and tenure limits and other goodgovernance practices prescribed by the Government, which arebased on the Basic Universal Principle of Good Governancerecommended by the Olympic Congress," the Sports Ministry saidin a statement.

The sports ministry under M S Gill issued guidelines inMay 2010 to limit the tenure of national sports federationchiefs to a maximum of 12 years and set the age limit at 70.

Five heads of sports federations sought a stay order onthe guidelines but the Delhi High Court in November last gavea green signal to the ministry to implement them, followingwhich the ministry issued warnings to such federations to fallin line or risk de-recognition.

BAI, in fact, went to the extent of refusing governmentfunding to avoid falling under the criteria set by theministry and went ahead with its elections.

Other prominent federations which have agreed to adhereto government guidelines are Indian Boxing Federation, AllIndia Football Federation, Athletics Federation of India andAll India Tennis Association.

The complete list Federations which have accepted theministry guidelines: Athletics Federation of India, BadmintonAssociation of India, Table Tennis Federation of India, IndianAmateur Boxing Federation, Gymnastics Federation of India, AllIndia Football Federation, All India Carrom Federation,National Rifle Association of India, Handball Federation ofIndia, Indian Golf Union, All India Karate-Do Federation,Rowing Federation of India, Indian Powerlifting Federation,Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India, Mallakhamb Federation ofIndia, All India Tennis Association, Tennikoit Federation ofIndia, Volleyball Federation of India, Tenpin BowlingFederation, Yachting Association of India, Tug-of-WarFederation of India, Indian Weightlifting Federation, SchoolGames Federation of India, Badminton Association of India,Sepak Takraw Federation of India.