The Indian Olympic Association (IOA), which has been suspended for violation of the Olympic charter, was given directions to elect its new executive members according to the directives by Feb 2 for the athletes to be able to use the national flag at the Sochi Games starting February 7.
With IOA holding the elections on February 9, all hopes of these Indian athletes were dashed. Three skiers and a luger from India had qualified for Olympics in Turkey in December 2013.
Hira Lal, an alpine skier from Himachal, is not participating due to technical reasons. Another alpine skier from Himachal, Himanshu Thakur, has his race on February 19.
Jammu and Kashmir's 30-year-old cross country skier Nadeem Iqbal from Indian Army has his event on February 14. Both the skiers, along with three coaches, will board their flight from Delhi to Russia on Tuesday morning.
The third athlete, Shiva Keshavan, the only luger from the country, is already undergoing pre-Olympic training with the US team in Russia. This is Keshavan's fifth Olympics. Unlike other athletes, who will be holding their national flags, the three athletes and three officials from Winter Games Federation of India (WGFI) will be holding the IOC flag in the march past at Olympics on Feb 7. "We are disappointed that our identities have been snatched."
"I am representing the country in Olympics due to my personal efforts and government has not recognized me. It pains a lot," said 19-year-old Himanshu, who had to compromise with his studies for this tough journey to Olympics.
When contacted, Shiva Keshavan said over phone from Russia that performing under the Indian flag would have doubled his enthusiasm.
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1kGLqqD
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