World University Games fallout: Ministry plans to revamp AIU, SGFI | More sports News
New Delhi: The govt is considering disbanding the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and School Games Federation of India (SGFI) over alleged irregularities in their functioning and administrative mismanagement, sources told TOI on Tuesday.With the govt set to introduce the ‘National Sports Governance Bill 2025’ in Parliament on Wednesday, there was a growing demand in the sports ministry’s corridors to establish two new national federations with a professional setup for school and university games, replacing both administratively-marred incumbent sports bodies.“Yes, there’s a thought to disband both AIU and SGFI and put two new sports federations in place after holding proper elections and having a right set of people. The ministry has been receiving a lot of complaints from athletes on how AIU and SGFI function. It will take some time, but with a new sports bill around, which will soon become an Act, the time has come to bring more accountability into the functioning of these two bodies,” a ministry official said. “Both AIU and SGFI are key to India’s sporting progress, as they nurture and identify talent at the grassroots level. They play an important role in shaping the country’s sports future. Sadly, both have failed in their duties,” the source added.The development has come at a time when six Indian badminton players were barred from the World University Games (WUG) in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, over an alleged administrative lapse. Originally, a total of 12 players were selected and sent to represent India, but only six were allowed to compete as officials failed to submit all names correctly during the managers’ meeting on July 16. Sources alleged that the players who topped the trials were left out of the badminton team despite being part of the squad. The AIU is the nodal body for university level sports in the country.Similarly, India couldn’t field an entry in the women’s 10,000m and 400m as long-distance runner Seema along with two others and sprinter Devyaniba Zala’s names were missing from the start list due to an official error.
