IOA mess: Anil Khanna files contempt petition against Adille Sumariwalla
On one hand is the IOA’s senior vice-president Anil Khanna, who claims to have been appointed as the Olympic body’s head by the Delhi High Court, and on the other is the Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) boss and one of the nine vice-presidents of the IOA, Adille J Sumariwalla, who asserts to have been enjoying the support of 18 out of 31 executive council (EC) members of the NOC, who have pledged their support to his presidentship. In the midst of this drama, which has become part and parcel of the IOA’s factional infighting since the removal of its former chief Narinder Dhruv Batra on May 25, the Khanna camp has once again knocked on the doors of the high court with a plea to initiate contempt proceedings against Sumariwalla for defying an earlier court order, which had installed Khanna as IOA’s president till the time an IOA executive committee — with a new set of elected office-bearers — takes charge.