IOA Deny Reports that Indian Team Will Boycott London 2012

Following news reports last week that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was holding a meeting next week to discuss a possible boycott of the London 2012 Games a key representative has said boycotting the games is not a possibility.

A number of Indian athletes and dignitaries have taken a stance over the Games sponsorship of Dow Jones that will wrap the Olympic Stadium. Dow purchased Union Carbide a US based chemical plant that was responsible of the leak of toxic gasses in 1984 at Bhopal causing the deaths of thousands of citizens.

IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra told Reuters:“We are meeting next week but it’s not about boycotting the games. Some people have raised a concern about the sponsorship issue and we will discuss that, along with some other issues.”

The Boycott threat elevated as Shivraj Singh Chauhan, a main minister of the Madhya Pradesh region where Bhopal is located, spoke up to get India to take a stand.

The IOA is also in the middle of a disagreement with the Indian sports minister, Ajay Maken, who is trying to pass a bill for the ministry to take control of the national Olympic committee.

Malholtra also spoke out in the Times of India also against losing the automony of the IOA and its relative sports federations.