The Union Government decided on Friday the players who are Indian citizens only can avail themselves of government assistance to represent the country in the national teams. This will also be applicable in the consideration of proposals for the participation of national teams in international sports events.
The issue of Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) representing the Country in international sports events has been a subject matter of debate in some of the National Sports Federations (NSFs), and in the absence of a uniform national policy on the matter, different federations have been following different rules in this regard.
Recently, the decision of the Squash Racket Federation of India (SRFI) to restrict the representation of the Country to only those players who hold the citizenship of India, has been challenged by affected players and the Delhi High Court has directed the Government to formulate a uniform policy on the matter in the best interest of sports in the Country.
Pursuant to the above direction of the Delhi High Court, the Government had consulted the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and all recognized NSFs and sought their comments on the following issues:
a) Whether a person who is not a citizen of India should be allowed to carry the flag of India or walk under it and represent the country in any national / international sports events.
b) Whether the local talent should be given overriding preference in terms of talent scouting, nurturing and training with the ultimate objective of promoting and developing local talent to international standards.
c) Whether it is appropriate that slots available to represent India may be taken up by non-citizens depriving citizens the opportunity to learn and develop from competitions.
The majority favoured restricting the representation of India in international sports events to players who are citizens of India. Some federations have not offered any comments on the matter and have indicated that they would adhere to the policy laid down by the Government in this regard.
Based on the responses received from the federations, the entire matter had been carefully examined in Government and after taking into account all relevant considerations, the Government took the decision to provide assistance only to those players who have Indian citizenship. The IOA and all the recognized NSFs have been advised accordingly.
Source: PIB release
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