The Athletes Commission of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) with M.C. Mary Kom as chairperson has chosen eight ‘Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit’ (SOM) as voting members of the IOA’s General Assembly.
The SOMs are M.M. Somaya (hockey), P.T. Usha (athletics), Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling), Suma Shirur (shooting), Rohit Rajpal (tennis), Aparna Popat (badminton), Akhil Kumar (boxing ) and Dola Banerjee (archery). More than 50 athletes had applied for the position, meeting the basic criteria of having retired from the sport, and winning at least a medal in the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Yogeshwar Dutt. | Photo Credit: PTI
Meanwhile, the Returning Officer for the IOA election, Umesh Sinha, published the names of nominated representatives, a male and a female, from 33 eligible National sports federations, as members of the electoral college.
It was announced that in the case of table tennis, kabaddi and judo, the nominations made by the government-appointed administrators were accepted. Nominations were not accepted for billiards & snooker and yachting as they were associate members.
From among the two factions of handball, the nomination sent by the one recognised by the government was accepted. In the case of taekwondo, the nominations of both factions were rejected.
Apart from the eight SOMs, two more nominated by the Athletes Commission — Gagan Narang and P.V. Sindhu — will also be part of the electoral college, along with IOC member Nita Ambani.
The election of the IOA Executive Council will be for president, senior vice-president, two vice-presidents, two joint secretaries, six executive members, including one male and one female member from among the eight SOMs. The two representatives of the Athletics Commission will also be part of the Executive Council.
Nominations should be submitted in person, from November 25 to 27. After scrutiny, the list of nominated candidates will be posted on November 30. After the withdrawal deadline, the final list of candidates will be displayed on December 4. The election will be held on December 10, and the results will be announced by 3 p.m. that day.
