CHENNAI: The members of Indian Olympic Association’s Athletes Commission have been finalized and as expected and reported by this newspaper, there were two withdrawals keeping the number to 10. All members have been elected unopposed. This also indicates that there could be limited election for other posts in the IOA as well. The two names were from sports that had double representation in the AC roster.
According to the circular of the IOA’s Returning Officer Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, all 10 (five male and five female) have been elected unopposed after Kidambi Srikanth (badminton) and Sudha Singh (athletics) withdrew their candidature. There is a sprinkling of stardust as well with Olympic medallists PV Sindhu (badminton), Mirabai Chanu (weightlifting), Swapnil Kusale (shooting) and Harmanpreet Singh (hockey) in the mix. Also on the star list are Salima Tete (hockey), CA Bhavani Devi (fencing), Sajan Prakash (swimming), Manjeet Singh (canoeing and kayaking), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (athletics) and L Bombayla Devi (archery).
As per the RO’s notification, Manjeet and Kusale have been selected under the medallist category while Tajinder, Harmanpreet and Sajan are part of the AC under Olympic category (male). Similarly, in the female, Bhavani Devi and Salima Tete had filed nominations under the medallist category while the other three women were in the Olympic category.
There were two each from three sports in the final 12 published on October 29. Badminton, athletics and hockey had two representatives. However, since hockey is a team sport two members could have been chosen.
The RO said the next step would be to elect chairperson and vice chairperson, who would represent the athletes in the general assembly. “After two withdrawals, all members were elected unopposed and the next step would be to elect the two representatives for the general assembly,” he told this daily.
It is understood that the names could be unanimous choices (one male and one female). Mirabai and Sindhu could be the front runners but the final decision would be that of the 10 AC members who would vote.
Eyes on SOMs
The next in line is the SOMs (Sportspersons of Outstanding Merits) which will be published after scrutiny and disposal of objections by the RO on Tuesday and Wednesday. The updated list will be published on November 5 and the last date of withdrawal is November 7 (2pm) before publication of the final list in the evening on the same day.
There are a lot of permutations and combinations going on among candidates and there could be interesting names in the final list. It is understood that there have been incomplete and double nominations as well. The final numbers could come down to around 24. Despite Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra deciding not to contest the elections, big names like PT Usha, Gagan Narang, Anju Bobby George, Adille Sumariwalla, Yogeshwar Dutt and Vijender Singh are still in fray.
