145;IOA will fully support Milkha146;

There is no dearth of people of eminence in Indian sports and the Indian Olympic Association fully supports Milkha Singh on this issue. It w...

There is no dearth of people of eminence in Indian sports and the Indian Olympic Association fully supports Milkha Singh on this issue. It will not only honour our eminent sportspersons but their nomination to the parliament will be of tremendous help in improving the standard of sports in the country. They will be in a better position to enlighten the parliament about the condition of Indian sports and the problems faced by our sportspersons.
8212; Randhir Singh, Secretary-general, Indian Olympic Association

Milkha Singh8217;s efforts are surely in the right direction. In fact, some years ago there was a move to induct Sunil Gavaskar into the Rajya Sabha. It8217;s good that the issue has gained momentum again and received the backing of all the sportspersons. After all, sportspersons, when they compete in international meets, are the representatives of the nation.
8212; Suresh Kalmadi, IOA president

I fully support Milkha8217;s stand. In no way can our contribution be less than the others who get nominated. A move like this will especially benefit other sports than cricket. One hopes it becomes a reality soon.
8212; Mir Ranjan Negi, Olympian hockey player

Sportpersons should definitely be nominated. But a prerequisite for people in Parliament is intelligence which I think is also a prerequisite for any good sportperson. I would like to see people like Sunil Gavaskar, Prakash Padukone, Micheal Ferreira, etc in the Rajya Sabha and they should be aggressive also. One should be also capable of making themselves heard.
8212; Farokh Khodaiji, Former international TT player

We have seen achievers from different field getting nominated but they have failed to deliver. I think we need someone as bold as Milkha to be in the Rajya Sabha to make a case for sportspersons in the country. It8217;s worth giving it a try and nominating sportspersons.
8212; Nandu Natekar, Former international badminton player

I am 200 per cent behind a proposal like this. If Milkha Singh, who is such a respected figure, takes the idea forward, I am sure it will work. But at the same time, though he is deserving, I don8217;t think in India anyone but a cricketer will be nominated. Such is the system. There are so many hockey players and footballers who have done the country proud internationally. If film stars and cultural personalities can get nominated, why not sportspersons?
8212; Subroto Bhattacharya, Former international footballer

Former players should get a chance to have their voices heard because there are many areas like giving children access to organised sports and spread sports to the grassroots.
8212; Indu puri, Former TT international

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Kumar Shyam, Shailendra Awasthi, Manish Kumar, Shamya Dasgupta 038; Micky Aigner