Still defying WMA, India says it will ‘select’ entrants to Lyon worlds
According to the WMA Constitution, “All masters/veterans shall be eligible to compete in any masters athletics competition.” Except in India. The website of Masters Athletics Federation of India (MAFI) says: “On the basis of their performance at national meet, national teams [are] selected and [sent] to take part in international tournaments.” At least they’re consistent. An earlier site listed one goal as “To select and feed masters athletes … for all International masters athletic meets all over the World.” Feeding is nice. But “select” is clearly a violation of WMA rules. What if a “nonselected” athlete wants to enter Lyon? MAFI’s defiance is echoed in a news story on India’s masters nationals, set for April. Manmohan Singh, general secretary of the Masters Athletics Association of Himachal, is quoted as saying an Indian contingent for Lyon worlds “will also be selected here after the event.” I’ve documented accusations of MAFI’s pay-to-play tactics. Stop this nonsense, WMA! I’ve written MAFI, WMA and the Asian WMA rep. Stay tuned.
3 Responses
Is MAFI being proactive in preventing the illegal immigration of Indian citizens to western countries under the guise of competing in Masters Athletics? It has been happening for many years, perhaps MAFI doesn’t want actual athletes to find it difficult to travel or obtain entrance visas to enable them to compete at international meets because of the sins of non-athletes that enter foreign meets only to obtain entrance documents and never show up to compete (or ever plan to return to India). note: India is not the only country whose citizens use this method of illegal immigration but maybe MAFI is the only masters athletics body trying to stop it.
Annie: Your logic is confusing: If more open athletic competition produced the best Indian athlete as per their performance in a legitimate meet, how would this person then transform themselves into a “non-athlete,” much less one who seeks illegal immigration? As per MAFI suposedly possessing such noble ambitions, that seems like quite a stretch of the imagination. One only has to read the history of India’s corrupt procedures over the decades in sending only “selected” athletes to compete in international competitions.
Joseph: I don’t know MAFI’s intentions, but I do know that non-athletes from India have entered western countries under the guise of competing at Masters Sporting events but never show up to compete and never return to India. So MAFI requiring athletes to show up and perform at their National Championships
should identify those which are real athletes…and hopefully it is they who are ‘selected.’
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