CHENNAI: Finally, normalcy has been restored in Indian gymnastics. After almost eight years of turmoil and bitter factional feud, the elections of the Gymnastics Federation of India were held on Tuesday. What seemed extraordinary was that almost all members were elected unanimously. This is something the GFI had been dreaming about but could not make it happen since Sports Ministry de-recognised them in 2011. As reported by this newspaper, the international gymnastics federation (FIG) and the sports ministry sent their observers.
For Sudhir Mittal, a bureaucrat who has been elected as the president, Shanti Kumar Singh, the secretary and the elected members, elections are just one of the many humungous challenges that have managed to surmount — from setting up of office to holding Annual General Meeting and executive board meeting. The nationals — sub-junior, junior and senior — were not legitimate as the two feuding factions, to the utter discomfort of the players, held two nationals.
“Our primary aim right now is to hold the nationals in all categories,” said Mittal after the elections. According to the president, they have decided the venues as well. Senior nationals will be in Telangana, the junior in Uttar Pradesh and the sub-junior in Rajasthan. “We will complete the calendar by March 31,” said Mittal. The nationals would be held after the executive committee meeting where they will finalise the dates for nationals.
Though Kaushik Bidiwala seemed to be the last hurdle for unanimous elections, the members apparently sorted their issues on Monday. Bidiwala has been elected the treasurer unanimously. “We did not want elections and wanted to show that all units are together,” said Mittal.
According to the electoral roll, there are 25 units and only three have not joined them due to technical reasons — Haryana, Delhi and Chattisgarh have been disqualified. Shanti Kumar, however, said the three states will soon be back in the fold. “We will start the process to get them back.” Delhi will be the place where they would set up their office.
Though the federation lacks funds now, Shanti Kumar is expecting some help from the sports ministry. “Once we get the recognition which seems soon, we will hopefully get our funding sorted out too. It was a free and fair election. After a long time we were all united.”
The Indian Olympic Association secretary general Rajeev Mehta, who had been discussing the issues with all stakeholders to bring normalcy to the GFI, was satisfied with the outcome. “Good thing was, in the end, observers from FIG and sports ministry were there. The matter has been sorted.”