L Nageshwar Rao (centre) of Jharkhand State Karate-Do Association meets the media in Jamshedpur on Tuesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Jan. 11: The sport teaches defence, but warring organisations are on an attack mode.

Controversy is rife over formation of the state karate team for the 34th National Games, thanks to two claimants.

While the ad hoc committee constituted by Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) has already announced a 27-member tentative outfit for men and women, the Jharkhand State Karate-Do Association (JSKA) has also come up with its own list of karatekas.

Nandji Prasad, chairman of the adhoc panel formed last year, said they were following JOA’s directives. “The JOA entrusted us to prepare a karate team for the Games,” he said.

JOA secretary general S.M. Hashmi also said JSKA was not recognised by them.

Hashmi, also the organising secretary of National Games Organising Committee, claimed there was a dispute between two parallel national karate bodies. “How can we allow the state body to field its team in the Games? After all, the event is organised by the JOA,” he said.

Shedding light on the dispute, Prasad said there was Delhi High Court stay order on the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) letter recognising one faction of the national body headed by R. Thiagarajan as its affiliated unit.

Rubbishing Hashmi’s claims, JSKA chief Sensei L. Nageshwar Rao said theirs was a recognised unit of the All-India Karate Foundation (AIKF) headed by Thiagarajan. “When the national federation recognises us, who is JOA,” he added.

At a news meet this evening, Rao furnished documents to support his contention, which included a letter from state sports director Amitabh Choudhary asking JSKA to submit a list of selected players and coaches for the final coaching camp and another issued by AIKF and addressed to the JOA secretary general. The AIKF document includes 16 members of state karate association nominated to conduct karate during the Games. “Documents don’t lie. Hashmi is trying to derail karate in Jharkhand,” Rao fumed.

Special secretary (sports) and Games’ spokesperson Nitin Madan Kulkarni told The Telegraph that the matter had to be sorted out by the IOA. “No one else has any say in this matter,” he added.