The International Olympic Committee on Thursday officially lifted the provisional sanction placed on India to host international sporting events.
The decision comes after the government gave a written guarantee to the Indian Olympic Association on Tuesday that all eligible athletes will be allowed to participate in events held in the country.
The IOC had decided to “suspend all discussions” with India regarding hosting of global sporting events after Pakistani shooters were not issued visas for the World Cup held in Delhi in February this year.
In a letter sent on Thursday, IOC announced that provisional measures and restrictions were lifted. Here’s the text of the letter.
The IOC Executive Board has examined the situation at its meeting today and understands that, with this letter, the principle of non-discrimination of athletes and teams participating in any future international sports events in India will be fully respected, so that all eligible athletes and sporting delegations, as determined by the international sports organisations concerned, will be allowed to enter the country and participate in any such international sports events irrespective of their country of origin.
In view of the above, we are very pleased to inform you that the IOC EB took the following decision:
Lift, with immediate effect, all provisional measures and restrictions imposed under points 2 and 3 of the IOC EB decision of 21 February 2019 in relation to awarding and hosting any international sports events in India; and inform the International Sports Federations accordingly.
We take this opportunity to thank your NOC and the Government of India for your joint efforts and cooperation in resolving this situation.
The IOC had also revoked the Olympic qualification status for two quota places in the 25m rapid fire event from the New Delhi World Cup due to denial of visas to the Pakistani shooters in the wake of the Pulwama terrorist attack.
The IOC had then said that it will not allow India to organise Olympic-related events in the future, unless written assurances are obtained from the government.
As a result, World wrestling body (UWW) moved the junior Asian wrestling championship out of India. The country also lost the hosting rights of the junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup due to the same issue, though the national tennis federation maintained that it let go of the events due to financial constraints.
Last year, Kosovan boxer Donjeta Sadiku was also denied participation in the World Women’s Championships in New Delhi since India does not recognise the nation.
The Indian government relented a couple of days back and in a written communication to the IOA President Batra, Union Sports Secretary Radhey Shyam Jhulaniya said India will “permit all qualified athletes belonging to any National Olympic Committee recognised by IOC or any national federation affiliated to International Federation concerned to participate”.
“Such participation of athletes shall be without prejudice to our principled positions and policies on other political matters including issues such as international recognition or otherwise of the country of origin of the athletes,” he added.