No election for IOA Athletes’ Commission as all 10 candidates declared unopposed

Manjeet Singh and Kidambi Srikanth

NEW DELHI: The Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) Athletes’ Commission election, scheduled for November 3, will not be held after all 10 candidates for the five male and five female positions were declared elected unopposed.In a revised notification issued on Monday, Electoral Officer (RO) Sanjay Kumar Srivastava confirmed that there was only one candidate for each of the 10 positions across the respective categories. Consequently, the election will not serve any purpose, the notification stated.

The development follows the withdrawal of nominations by badminton player Kidambi Srikanth and former athlete Sudha Singh. Their withdrawals have left the remaining 10 candidates unopposed.Among the male candidates, shooter Swapnil Suresh Kusale and rower/canoeist Manjeet Singh have been declared unopposed in the medalist category. Hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh, swimmer Sajan Prakash and athlete

Tajinderpal Singh Toor

will occupy the three positions under the Olympian category.The five female members will comprise

PV Sindhu

Mirabai Chanu

and Laishram Bombayla Devi in the Olympian category, while hockey player Salima Tete and fencer Bhavani Devi have been declared unopposed in the medalist category.

The revised list represents a significant change from the draft list of nominations published on October 22. That list featured 12 candidates, six men and six women, with representation from nine sports. The final list has 10 members, five male and five female, across nine sports with hockey represented by two individuals.IOA Athletes' Commission: Manjeet Singh, Swapnil Kusale, Harmanpreet Singh, Sajan Prakash, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, PV Sindhu, Mirabai Chanu, Laishram Bombayla Devi, Salima Tete, Bhavani Devi.