Tribune News Service
Vinayak Padmadeo
New Delhi, November 14
Amidst a lot of confusion, a 10-member athletes commission of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was elected today. As per the rules, five male and five female sportspersons were elected.
Shiva Keshavan, Gagan Narang, OP Karhana, Bajrang Lal Thakkar, Sharath Kamal, PV Sindhu, Bhavani Devi, Rani Rampal, Mirabai Chanu and MC Mary Kom were elected unopposed.
The body will select its chairman and vice-chairman tomorrow, and early indications are that Narang and Sindhu will get the nod.
Abhinav Bindra and Sardar Singh will also be a part of the commission as ex-officio members. Bindra is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s athletes commission, while Sardar is a member of the Olympic Council of Asia commission.
What raises eyebrows is that 32 athletes withdrew their candidacy. Also, the deadline was repeatedly extended to accommodate last-minute withdrawals. “Everyone knows how the withdrawals happened,” said one of the candidates who pulled out of the race.
Umesh Sinha, who is the returning office for the December 10 IOA election, was tasked with publishing the electoral college and putting out the list of prospective candidates. Sinha could only publish the list by late last night. He extended the withdrawal deadline from 8:30am, as per the original notification, to first 10:30am and then to 12 noon.
“The nominations were received till 5pm yesterday,” Sinha said. “Then we examined the profiles and the provisional list was drafted late in the night. Many of the athletes and federations felt they needed more time to make their withdrawals. Some had network issues, some were traveling abroad, so we gave them till 12,” he added.
There was confusion over the voting process, which was to start at 1pm, as well. The athletes were given the impression that voting could be done remotely. However, they were later told that while the candidates didn’t have to be present, the voters had to come in person.
“There was no confusion as it was clarified that the election was to be held by physical mode and the notification was sent well in advance. There was always the possibility of a glitch as it was a very tight schedule,” Sinha said.
Kamal to get Khel Ratna on Nov 30
New Delhi: Table tennis legend Sharath Kamal will receive the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award from President Droupadi Murmu on November 30 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. A total of 25 athletes have been nominated for the Arjuna Award this year.
#Indian Olympic Association IOA
#pv sindhu
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