New Delhi: Launching a scathing
attack on WSF President N
Ramachandran, the Professional
squash body PSA has described the
Indian administrator as an
"embarrassment to the sport",
besides blaming the world governing
body for repeatedly failing to put
up a successful Olympic bid.
PSA CEO Alex Gough, speaking to PTI,
confirmed that a 17-point document
prepared by PSA with some National
Federations was produced at the WSF
AGM in Nice last week, blaming the
governing body for the failed
Olympic bid.
After it lost
out to wrestling for the 2020
Olympics two years ago, the Summer
Games' host Tokyo gave the sport
another hope by shortlisting it
among eight possible inclusions for
2020 before removing squash from the
final five in September.
The
PSA document, first accessed by
Squash Mad, states that
Ramachandran, who is also heading
the Indian Olympic Association,
continuing as WSF chief is an
embarrassment to the sport.
"President Ramachandran's grip on
the WSF has tightened, seemingly to
an unprecedented degree. This has
occurred simultaneously with the
escalation of his well-publicised
troubles as the President of the
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and
inherent conflicts of interest,
motions for Ramachandran's ouster as
the leader of the IOA at a Special
General Meeting, and a judgement
against Ramachandran by the Indian
courts stripping him of a 2011 award
on the grounds that he did not meet
any of the criteria necessary for
the recognition.
"Even if
viewed in the best light with no
presumption of misconduct, his
present circumstances must be viewed
at a minimum as a serious
distraction from his role of
representing the sport of squash,
and certainly as an embarrassment to
the sport during this important
time," the PSA claims in the
document.
It also holds the
WSF responsible for not doing enough
to win the Olympic bid.
"During the last several decades,
despite an increasingly successful
professional tour and having made
enormous strides in both
broadcasting and presentation,
squash has peaked in participation
and public interest, and has been
unsuccessful on several occasions in
gaining entry as a sport into the
Olympic Games."
Ramachandran,
in his and WSF's defence, sent a
note to all WSF member federations
saying he did his best to make
squash an Olympic sport.
"On
a general level, while my leadership
style and these other matters have
been brought up at the AGM I will
simply reaffirm that I and my Board
have done and shall continue to do
nothing but our best for Squash.
"However, I must emphasise that
I recognise the criticisms and will
do my best to respond to their
intent and the wishes of members in
the short time that remains for my
Presidency," said Ramachandran,
whose current term ends next year.
The PSA has accused the World Squash
Federation of a “lack of
institutional integrity” in a
document that attacks WSF president
Narayana Ramachandran for fouling up
squash’s latest Olympic bid.
Ramachandran, who is involved in
several controversial disputes in
India, has been blamed for a number
of issues concerning the Olympic
bid.
He came under sustained
attack during the WSF annual meeting
in Nice, reported exclusively by
Squash Mad.
Ramachandran was
criticised for sacking Vero
Communications from the bid, taking
control himself, ignoring support
from the PSA and other professional
bodies, and overseeing a disastrous
project that was doomed to failure
because of his presence at the helm.
He has also been accused of
seeking to build an empire that
echoes that of suspended FIFA
secretary Sepp Blatter.
The
PSA document maintains that “the
IOC’s tolerance has plummeted for
out-of-date and anything less than
best practice governance, or a lack
of institutional integrity among
sports bodies”.
In short,
this section of the document is
clearly claiming that the IOC was
always likely to dismiss squash’s
Olympic aspirations all the time a
tarnished leader was at the helm of
the bid.
Here is the document
in full, produced by the PSA and
several national federations who
will be forming a Global Task Force
to press for change throughout the
WSF.
Situation Analysis:
World Squash
Overview and
Summary
This situation
analysis is the result of a
collaboration among the Professional
Squash Association (PSA) and
representatives from squash
federations worldwide. It is
considered a starting point in the
conversation with stakeholders in
the squash world to chart the future
course for the sport.
The
analysis demonstrates institutional
weakness at the world level and
concludes with the strong suggestion
that a Global Task Force be
established to draw on the
experience from leaders in the sport
with fresh ideas, working in
partnership with squash federations,
to more fully consider options for
moving the sport forward in the most
productive manner.
Current
Situation
1: The
International Squash Rackets
Federation / World Squash Federation
(WSF) has been the titular global
leader for squash for more than four
decades.
2: One of the
designated roles, among many, and
exclusively in the hands of the WSF,
is representing the sport before the
International Olympic Committee
(IOC).
3: During the last
several decades, despite an
increasingly successful professional
tour and having made enormous
strides in both broadcasting and
presentation, squash has peaked in
participation and public interest,
and has been unsuccessful on several
occasions in gaining entry as a
sport into the Olympic Games.
4: At the same time, many other
sports have thrived in participation
and corporate backing, most notably
the “X-Games” sports, which have
adapted promotionally to the current
generational trends present
worldwide.
5: There is
complete consensus that Olympic
inclusion would be a major positive
for squash globally, in terms of
awareness, funding and enthusiasm
among potential corporate sponsors.
6: The process for inclusion has
been challenging and continually
evolving, and squash has
historically struggled to
successfully participate in this
process.
7: The 2013 campaign
for 2020 inclusion was undoubtedly
the sport’s best effort yet, and may
have succeeded if not for issues
that wrestling brought up. As a
consequence of the 2013 campaign,
squash enjoyed an elevated level of
respect within the IOC and
international sports community.
8: A significant factor in this
recent improvement was largely due
to the messaging developed by Vero
Communications and the progress,
improvements and support provided by
the PSA and several national squash
federations.
9: Following the
2013 election of Thomas Bach as
President of the IOC, and the 40
subsequent Agenda 2020 reforms
adopted in 2014, further reinforced
by FIFA’s 2015 troubles, the IOC’s
tolerance has plummeted for
out-of-date and anything less than
current best practice governance or
a lack of institutional integrity
among the organizing sports bodies.
10: At the same time, WSF
President Ramachndran’s grip on the
WSF has tightened, seemingly to an
unprecedented degree. Examples
include attempting to advance the
deadline for proposing motions at
the 2015 AGM to exclude and
challenges or “outside” motions,
failing to approve the public
circulation of the Tokyo 2020
presentation, last-minute agenda
changes regarding consideration of
important governance issues, not
agreeing to share the WSF AGM
attendee list in advance of the 2015
conference, supporting a motion to
extend his own term as President,
along with other motions such as
“one country, one vote”.
11:
This has occurred simultaneously
with the escalation of his
well-publicised troubles as the
President of the Indian Olympic
Association (IOA) and inherent
conflicts of interest (a press book
provides background on allegations
of corruption, motions for
Ramachandran’s ouster as the leader
of the IOA at a Special General
Meeting, and a judgment against
Ramachandran by the Indian courts
stripping him of a 2011 award on the
grounds that he did not meet any of
the criteria necessary for the
recognition.
12: Even if
viewed in the best light with no
presumption of misconduct, his
present circumstances must be viewed
at a minimum as a serious
distraction from his role of
representing the sport of squash,
and certainly as an embarrassment to
the sport during this important
time.
13: After the 2013
Olympic failure, Ramachandran
refused to further engage Vero
Communications (who subsequently
successfully represented surfing to
Tokyo 2020), despite Vero’s offer to
continue on very reasonable
commercial terms.
14: Since
that time, the perception persists
that Ramachandran has acted
virtually alone, and without any
professional, appropriate and
objective guidance despite numerous
recommendations and offers of help,
in pursuit of his singular focus on
gaining entry into the Olympics, and
has failed to include any other
parties in the process. Having
failed to secure Tokyo 2020’s
recommendation for inclusion, he led
the most recent move to attack IOC
leadership, demanding an explanation
for why Tokyo 2020 did not propose
squash.
15: In the absence of
WSF conflict of interest policies,
competent governance, or any sense
of accountability of the President
to the membership, and an increased
frustration within the WSF
membership, motions to improve
governance were proposed prior to
the 2015 AGM.
16: It has
become increasingly clear, with the
circulation of the draft WSF
2016-2020 “strategic plan” that the
WSF has no coherent approach to
governance reform, plans to address
core challenges faced by the sport,
or willingness to recognise previous
failings which have contributed to
the lack of traction in the Olympic
process.
17: Examples of
these challenges and shortcomings
include the lack of coordinated
sharing of best practices, programs,
technology or infrastructure, very
limited options and offers to host
World Championships, the declining
number of courts in most countries,
and no measures of participation
globally.
The current draft
of the WSF strategic plan reveals no
progress in building the institution
in any way, including finances,
infrastructure, governance,
mechanisms for collaboration and
best practices or technology, and
further, it demonstrates a complete
lack of understanding of the true
mission and purpose for the
organisation.
In response to
all of the above, the only other
world body, the PSA, in partnership
with squash federations from every
continent, plan to create a Global
Task Force.
Its role will be
to further analyse the current
situation, to assess appropriate
roles within squash globally that
are required to build a solid
foundation for growth in the sport,
and propose changes to WSF
leadership, governance and strategy.
NOTE: We look forward to readers
commenting below. We welcome views
from players, administrators and
squash enthusiasts alike.
As pressure mounts on World Squash
Federation president Narayana
Ramachandran, his brother,
Narayanaswami Srinivasan, has been
removed from his post as chairman of
world cricket’s main governing body.
Ramachandran is clinging on to
his position with the WSF despite a
number of speakers, including PSA
chairman Ziad Al Turki, calling for
him to step down from his post
during a stormy WSF annual meeting
in Nice, France.
The PSA and
several national federations have
set up a Global Task Force to call
for change throughout the WSF
following the latest Olympic
disaster, describing Ramachandran’s
continuation in the post as
“embarrassing” to the sport.
They firmly believe that squash’s
Olympic bid had no chance of success
with Ramachandran at the
helm.0000000
Today, the Board
of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) decided to remove Srinivasan
as their ICC representative. He was
replaced by Shashank Manohar, the
new BCCI president.
Ramachandran is under growing
pressure to step down from the world
of squash. Today, the axe fell on
his brother as the BCCI unanimously
removed Srinivasan from the post of
ICC chairman.
According to
the BBC, the move follows corruption
scandals embroiling cricket in
India.
Their report stated:
“Srinivasan, 70, stood down as BCCI
chief after the Supreme Court last
year found him guilty of conflict of
interest issues regarding his
ownership of the Chennai Super Kings
team in the Indian Premier League.
“Srinivasan’s son-in-law, Gurunath
Meiyapppan, was found guilty of
illegal betting while serving as
team principal at Chennai and banned
from all cricket-related
activities.“An administrator removed
by his home board cannot serve in
the ICC.”
The New Indian
Express reported: “The Tamil Nadu
strongman will lose his grip over
Indian cricket for good after having
already been ousted as the BCCI
President owing to the 2013 IPL
spot-fixing scandal in which his
son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was
held guilty of betting charges.
“Although Srinivasan was not
personally indicted for the damaging
scandal, the Supreme Court-appointed
committee had chided him for not
acting on the elements which
corrupted the IPL.
“With his
sacking as ICC chairman, Srinivasan
now only remain the president of
Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. His
company India Cements had owned the
IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings,
which was suspended for two years
after its officials were held guilty
of betting.” Following the
revelations by Squash Mad over the
weekend, this website has been
contacted by Indian media outlets
keen to follow up the story.
We have also received numerous
emails from Indian players, coaches
and administrators complaining about
the negative effect of
Ramachandran’s involvement in the
sport.
Elsewhere in the
world, several leading federations
have pledged support to the PSA call
for change.
Today’s
cricketing dramas follow recent
revelations that criminal activities
exposed in athletics could dwarf the
corruption that has engulfed FIFA in
recent months.
As the IOC
observes these events unfolding, it
is more important than ever that
squash gets its house in order,
removes any suspect federation
officials, and begins to rebuild a
reputation that has been tarnished
by those it elected to serve the
sport.
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