IOA assures of support to Indian athletes in London 2012 Olympic Games
The Indian Olympic Association recently gave a statement in which it expressed their stance of sending the Indian delegation to take part in the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games.
Having said that, they also added that the all the athletes who will be representing India in the Olympic Games will be given every possible assistance by the IOA.
There had been talk of the IOA boycotting the London 2012 Olympic Games because of the association of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games with the Dow Chemical Company. The IOA had called on the International Olympic Committee several times
to end the partnership with Dow Chemical but no positive response had come up. The Dow Chemical Company is providing the giant cloth wrap for the Olympic Park for the Games that are to commence from July 27 and last until August 12.
The reason that the IOA had asked the London 2012 organisers to end their partnership with Dow was because the company had been involved with one of the biggest industrial disasters that took place in Bhopal in the year 1984. There was a gas leak from a
Union Carbide Corporation factory that caused the death of several thousands of local residents in Bhopal. Not only that, children born to residents in the years to come had birth defects.
Dow had acquired Union Carbide but had not cleared off its liabilities to the Indian government as well as the people of Bhopal for which the partnership between Olympics and the company has been criticised.
The acting president of the IOA, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, shared his views on the matter in the following manner, “All the Federations whose sportspersons will qualify for the London Olympic Games will get unstinted support and every help from the IOA. We will
go extra mile to help the sportspersons to help them bring glory to the country. IOA will provide them extra incentive for coaching and training. From IOA's side we will leave no stone unturned to fulfil the requirements of the sportspersons but I hope they
will also reciprocate these efforts by putting up their best performance in the Games. Let there be no excuses.”
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