New Delhi: The age and tenure restrictions in the proposed National Sports Governance Bill the government intends to bring will be relaxed for sports officials who hold posts in international federations.

This is one the few changes that will be incorporated in the draft bill before it is likely to be tabled in Parliament during the budget session.

Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that during consultation with various stakeholders one of the issues that came up was sports officials being unable to serve in international sports bodies because of the age and tenure restrictions.

“If you take the example of Randhir Singh, it took him decades to become president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). It could happen only after he served as a sports administrator in the international platform for so long. If we remove our officials after 70 years after only two terms, will they be able to reach any international federation?” Mandaviya said during an interaction with the media on Wednesday.

“So, I will keep that window open that if someone is there in international platform (federation) then this rule (age and tenure) will be relaxed,” he said.

This will be a major relief for officials of the National Sports Federations who find the age and tenure guidelines restricting their entry in international federations.

“If you are not in sports (federation) here, then you won’t be able to work in international federations, so in such cases we have to give relaxation.”

Randhir Singh, who was elected OCA president at its general assembly held in Delhi in October, had urged the government to relax its age and tenure guidelines as it took officials years to rise in international bodies.

The 70-year age cap for office bearers of NSFs has already been relaxed in the draft policy that says the age of seventy (70) years should not exceed at the time of contesting the election or seeking nomination. Similarly, the tenure restriction is also relaxed. An individual who has served as an office bearer of the NOC for more than two consecutive terms (4-year term) needs to have a cooling off period for a period of four years. However, there is no mention of maximum number of terms an official can serve.

With the changes, the criteria will be further relaxed for officials aspiring to go to international federations.