FASANOC fights for Commonwealth spot November 13, 2009
If you don’t like our politics don’t take it out on our athletes.
These were the words of the Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee president Vidya Lakhan in response to the lack of interest shown by the Commonwealth Games Secretariat during their meeting in London last week.
Lakhan said the ban imposed on Fiji athletes to compete in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games could only be lifted by the Head of Government at their meeting in Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tabago later this month.
Lakhan in confident that Fiji will take part in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games after highlighting the next step the association is opting for.
“In an executive board meeting last night it’s a must that the FSANOC Representatives should be at the Head of Government meeting to lobby their support and submission,” Lakhan said during the press conference at the Fiji Olympic House this morning.
“FASANOC is seeking assistance from all National Olympic Committees, requesting them to brief their Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Head of Government to speak against the CMAG recommendation and have it removed from the list of Commonwealth sanctions so that no athlete from any Commonwealth country is penalized in the future.”
Lakhan added that the imposition of the ban is unconstitutional and agree to take the matter to Court of Arbitration for Sports for resolution.
“We’re in the process of putting the case together which will be submitted in the next five to 10 days.”
Meanwhile, the association is getting signatures on a petition at a website FASANOC has created to show the athletes’ point of view- LetFijiPlay.com
The social network site, Facebook, is being heavily used to drum up support and drive traffic to the website, and supporters can also follow the campaign on twitter- www.twitter.com/letfijiplay.
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