Uttarakhand National Games: IOA President PT Usha calls bluff of volleyball ad hoc committee

The misadventures of the ad hoc committee, appointed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to oversee the affairs of the beleaguered Volleyball Federation of India, have been called out by the IOA President PT Usha and the High Court of Kerala.

"When the parent body (IOA) has delineated the selection process, the ad hoc committee had no authority to promulgate a separate notification with a divergent selection process. It is inconceivable that the ad hoc committee could supercede its parent body and initiate a parallel process," Justice CS Dias wrote in his order on Friday.

He declined the Kerala State Sports Council's Volleyball Technical Committee (KSCVTC) prayer to direct IOA and the Games Technical Conduct Committee of the Uttarakhand 2025 National Games to only allow its teams instead of the squads picked by the Kerala Olympic Association (KOA) and Kerala State Volleyball Association (KSVA).

The KOA and the KSVA had come together conducted open trials for 113 players in 14 districts and then a State level trials from December 21 to 23 last. These were held under the supervision of a retired Judge of the High Court of Kerala and the players were selected by former players and coaches.

Justice Dias pointed out that the Kerala Sports Council Volleyball Technical Committee had waited till the 11th hour to file the writ despite KOA communicating the selection process to the Sports Council. Although the eighth respondent (KOA) informed the sixth respondent (KSCVTC), they maintained a stoic silence and adopted a wait and watch policy.

Meanwhile, IOA President PT Usha pointed out to the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) that the ad hoc panel did not have the authority to conduct a National Championship. She wrote the ad hoc committee, since its appointment 20 months ago, had neither sought to amend the VFI constitution nor ensured the timely transition to an elected governing body. Therefore, the IOA invited the top seven men and women's teams from the last edition of the volleyball competition in the National Games to the Uttarakhand National Games.

Usha has told the FIVB that IOA had directed the State Olympic Associations (SOA) to work with the State Volleyball Associations (SVA) to conduct fair trials to select their respective teams for the National Games. She accused the ad hoc committee of ignoring SOAs and SVAs but got State Governments involved in the process of selecting the volleyball teams.

The IOA President said she would soon appoint a fact-finding committee to investigate how the ad hoc committee invited some former players to enter the volleyball teams from their States instead of having the squads being entered for the National Games by the respective State Volleyball Associations.