For the first time since it came into existence in 1950, the Basketball Federation of India got a woman as its president when Poonam Mahajan was unanimously elected as the head of this 65 year old federation — the governing and controlling body of basketball in India — here on Saturday.
At the Annual General Meeting of the BFI, president of Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA), who is also the BJP national secretary and MP from the Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha constituency, Poonam was unanimously elected as the new president of BFI for a four-year (2015-2019) term.
The 34-year-old Poonam is the youngest president of any national federation in India.
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In yet another first, another woman, Roopam Harish Sharma — secretary of Delhi Basketball Association — was unanimously elected as the Secretary General of the BFI.
With both Poonam and Roopam given key posts in the BFI, the national governing body of basketball became the first ever national federation to be headed by women representatives.
Secretary, Basketball Association of Assam, Mukut Medhi was named as the new treasurer of the 26-member new BFI executive committee.
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From the 32 affiliated units of the BFI 22 took part in the AGM. These include members of the Railway and Services Sports Promotion Board. The daylong meeting was attended by 40 members of the 62 eligible voters.
Ex-Judge, Delhi District Court Mukesh Vatsa was the Returning Officer. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) appointed Virendra D Nanavati as the AGM Observer while Virendra Bhandarkar was the Government of India observer. From the FIBA Asia Mageshwaran Saba observed the proceedings of the meeting.