CHENNAI: It's final. Olympian and multiple Asian Games gold medallist PT Usha is the lone candidate for Indian Olympic Association president's post. She is unopposed and set to be the next president of the IOA. The elections are scheduled on December 10. Even on Sunday, the last day of the nominations, no other candidate came forward to challenge her and as reported by this newspaper, the Athletes' Commission and the Sportspersons of Merit (SOMs) and several other federations have backed her.
As reported by this newspaper, new faces and more athletes will be part of the IOA. There are hardly a few names from the previous regime, and going by nominations, it seems the new set of administrators would have sporting backgrounds. At the same time, some of the members who could be elected are from the ruling party. Usha has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by BJP.
The senior vice president, an important position in the IOA, will be taken by National Rifle Association of India vice president Ajay Patel, who is from Gujarat. He too is a sole nomination. For treasurer's post Indian Weightlifting Federation president Sahdev Yadav is the lone contestant and has been in sports administration for quite some time.
As reported by this newspaper, more athletes are to be part of the administration and there is hardly anyone from the last Executive Committee on the nomination list. Around 15 NSFs may not be represented in the EC.London Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang is set to be the vice president as he is the lone male candidate on the list of three. The other nominations for the lone female post are Rajlaxmi Singh Deo of Rowing Federation of India and Alaknanda Ashok of Badminton Association of India.
Similarly, for the post of joint secretary, All India Football Federation chief and BJP leader Kalyan Chaubey is the lone male candidate while there are three names for one female candidate. There are 12 names for the four — two male and two female — posts of executive council members. It needs to be seen if there will be elections for these posts.
London Olympic bronze medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, who contested elections as a BJP candidate twice, and former World Cup medallist archer Dola Banerjee are the two SOMs.As a senior member pointed out, the fight between two factions former IOA president Narinder Batra and secretary general Rajeev Mehta cost them dear. The two factions never compromised and played into the hands of other interested parties. Even while negotiating on Sunday, they did not have much to offer because the numbers were skewed in the favour of PT Usha and her panel.