CUTTACK 27-Jun-2012 354
Odisha Taekwondo Association (OTA) secretary Gopal Chandra Roy scored a notable victory against Taekwondo Federation of India (TFI) president Harish Kumar in a court case earlier on June 20. After hearing a petition filed by Roy, Cuttack Civil Judge (Senior Division) B K Chand pronounced that OTA was the sole governing body of the sport in the state and directed the TFI not to allow any other taekwondo team from Odisha either in the name of TFI Odisha or any other name to participate in any National championship.
The court also directed the TFI to provide all facilities to OTA as has been extended to other state associations including rail travel concession certificate and make all correspondence to in this regard to OTA secretary Roy till the disposal of the original suit.
According to Roy`s advocate Sanjib Swain, OTA has been functioning as the apex governing body of teakwondo in Odisha since its formation in 1978. It has been recognised by TFI, Odisha Olympic Association and the state government. But TFI president Harish Kumar was harassing OTA and its secretary Roy in various ways including giving affiliation to another organisation named TFI Odisha and allowing the parallel body to field its team in this year`s Senior National Championship held at New Delhi from February 15 to 17.
Being an international taekwondo referee, Roy had represented India in the Doha Asian Games. But he could not do so in the last Olympic Games as TFI mischievously did not intimate him anything regarding the communication of World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) in this regard.
According to Roy, Harish Kumar, a retired IPS officer, became vindictive as he posed a threat to his post. ``As the senior most vice-president of TFI I was interested to contest for president`s post. Harish Kumar used all illegal means to keep me away from the state body so that I can not represent Odisha in the TFI elections,`` said Roy.
``Due to Harish Kumar`s vindictive attitude taekwondo players of Odisha suffered a lot. In order to safeguard the interest of the players and the state body, I went to the court. I am happy to have got justice in the matter,`` stated Roy.
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