Over the years, the northern agrarian state of Haryana has emerged as a powerhouse in the country’s sporting scenario, sending the maximum number of athletes to Olympics and contributing a lion’s share in the country’s medal tally in the Asian and Commonwealth Games.

In the last three Olympics, sportspersons hailing from the state have made the country proud — Boxer Vijender Singh (bronze, 2008), wrestlers Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze, 2012) and Sakshi Malik (bronze, 2016).

But when it comes to the role of the sports administrators and associations in the state, it is a divided house, with politics often superseding genuine units.

Many sports disciplines have parallel associations and in some cases, there are three bodies running the affairs of the sport, eventually leading to halting of the sports activities.

The Haryana Olympic Association (HOA), currently headed by former additional director general of police PV Rathee, has 33 sports associations affiliated to it. Of these, over 10 are parallel state associations that have no affiliation to the national federation and are not eligible to send teams to national championships. However, these bodies will be voting in the state Olympic body polls, set to be held on September 19.

Apart from that, there are a few state sports associations, such as those of rowing, squash, modern pentathlon and bowling, which have the national federation affiliation but they are not affiliated to the HOA even as there are no parallel state units in the sport. The state contingent in the National Games participates under the HOA banner.

“There are a number of state sports associations, which are not recognised by their national sports federation and despite that, they are affiliated to the HOA. These associations not only have voting rights, but officials from these associations also hold the majority of the posts in HOA,” says Sajjan Kumar, who was the joint secretary of the HOA and resigned from the post on September 4.

“In my resignation, I have raised objections over these unauthorised sports associations,” he said.

Take an example of football. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) recognises Suraj Pal Amu led-Haryana Football Association and the state teams for all the national championships are participating under his association’s banner. However, the HOA recognises the football body led by former Congress MLA Rao Dan Singh.

Similarly, the Archery Association of India (AAI) recognises Haryana unit headed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Captain Abhimanyu and the state teams participate under his unit’s banner, while HOA has given affiliation to a parallel body headed by Raghu Raj. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) recognises the state body, whose president is Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader and MLA Abhay Singh Chautala, however, HOA recognises a parallel body.

“Our association, Haryana Hockey, is a recognised unit of Hockey India and affiliated to HOA, but I am of the view that only those state sports associations should be allowed to vote, that are recognised by the national body and are eligible to send the teams for the national championships,” says Sunil Malik, secretary general of Hockey Haryana.

In gymnastics, there are three bodies claiming to be the governing body of the sport in the state, but the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) has not given recognition or authorisation any of these to send the team for nationals. Looking into the tussle over the control of the sport in the state, the GFI selects the state team through its observer in open trials. The gymnastics state championship has not been held for the last two years.