PT Usha to be named first female IOA President

The IOC executive board has made clear that it will only make clear its position regarding the IOC Session that was due to take place in Mumbai in 2023 after the completion of the election process.

The IOC Executive Board has noted the “significant progress” made by the IOA concerning its functioning. This includes the adoption of the revised IOA Constitution, which aimed at improving the internal governance of the IOA, but stated that it would wait till the completion of the election, which will be completed on December 10. 

Unopposed posts

PT Usha, a legendary sports figure and multiple Asian Games gold medallist, is set to become India’s first female IOA President. She will become President unopposed, which means that there will be no other candidate for the position. She also takes up the post without any prior experience of holding such a high rank. 

Others who will be elected unopposed include Ajay Patel (National Rifle Association of India), who will become the senior vice president. 

Gagan Narang will become the male vice president, and Rajlaxmi Singh Deo, President of the Rowing Federation of India, will become the female vice president.

Sahdev Yadav, President of the Indian Weightlifting Federation, will become the treasurer of the IOA as yet another unopposed candidate. 

The Joint Secretary male post will be handed over to the All India Football Federation President Kalyan Chaubey. Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt and Indian archer Dola Banarjee will become members of the IOA Executive Council as representatives of the Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit. 

For the first time in its history, five of the IOA’s executive council members will be former sportspersons. This step broadly aligns with the intentions of Abhinav Bindra’s suggestions for active athlete participation made on September 27 during the IOC-IOA meet in Lausanne. 

Contested posts

The female joint secretary post will see elections take place to choose between Alaknanda Ashok of the Badminton Association of India and Suman Kaushik of the Netball Federation of India. 

Furthermore, four ordinary members of the executive council will be picked from the lot of Amitabh Sharma, Bhupender Singh Bajwa, Cyrus Poncha, Harjinder Singh, Harpal Singh, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Rohit Rajpal and Vitthal Shirgaonkar. The 77 members of the electoral college will cast their votes to pick the candidates for the above-mentioned posts.