Muthappa Rai's short stint in sports

With the passing of N Muthappa Rai here on Friday, the Karnataka Athletics Association will likely function without a president till the Covid-19 situation improves. The reformed underworld don had unofficially resigned from KAA’s top post in January after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

Rai was elected unopposed the president of KAA in September 2018. Due to his ill health, Rai was unable to oversee the association’s activities since last year. As he chose to retire from active social life, Rai suggested deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan as the ideal person to succeed him at the KAA. Narayan formerly served as KAA’s vice-president.

“In his (Rai) absence, our senior vice-president HT Mahadeva was chairing our meetings. We had decided to hold a AGM post March 31 as that’s the end of the financial year and we would have our accounts audited,” A Rajavelu, KAA secretary, told DH.

Rai’s near two-year term was a mixed-bag. He stood by agitated athletes in their struggle to reclaim the Sree Kanteerava Stadium which is also shared by the Bengaluru Football Club, but Karnataka's failure in hosting the Open Nationals was a low point.

The KAA was supposed to host the Open Nationals last year. However, Karnataka faced the threat of suspension from the meet by AFI after KAA refused to conduct the event owing to the pathetic quality of the synthetic track. Eventually, the AFI allowed Karnataka athletes to participate under the neutral flag.

The South Zone Championship in Udupi last year was the only major event hosted by the KAA during his time at the helm.

“My aim is to identify athletes from rural areas and provide monetary support to all district associations,” Rai had said after his appointment. Rai, who found the pro-Kannada organisation Jaya Karnataka, had funded several junior State and district meets over the last five years.

Rai was keen on solving the prolonged stand-off between athletics and football. He had asserted that the Sree Kanteerava Stadium would remain for athletics only. Bengaluru FC, the city-based football franchise in the Indian Super League, had kept Pune as its backup option just a month before the tournament after the KAA fraternity protested against football activities at the stadium. BFC though got the nod from the Department of Youth Empowerment and Service (DYES) and the High Court of Karnataka in the nick of time.

“Rai had proposed the name of Ashwath Narayan to replace him. We will follow the registrar of societies act and agree to legal guidelines in appointing the next president. It will also require the presence of all the district members of the association. Due to the coronavirus-forced lockdown, it isn’t clear when we will be able to follow these procedures,” Rajavelu said.

The Athletics Federation of India had earlier this month held a Special General Body Meeting (SGM) online and extended the office bearers’ terms. Rajavelu said KAA could adopt a similar option. “For now, all our offices are closed. We are functioning via mails and phone calls. We might have to hold an SGM online to pick the new chief if the coronavirus crisis continues to trouble us,” he said.

Without a president, KAA’s first big challenge is getting a suitable date for Open Nationals. “The AFI has fixed October 29-November 2 as the tentative schedule. However, we won’t have the Stadium free during that period due to Rajyotsava celebrations. Also, the relaying of synthetic track has been stopped due to Covid-19. I shall write a letter to AFI regarding this,” Rajavelu said.