Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Mirabai Chanu are among the leading names in the list of athletes who have filed nominations for the first-ever Indian Olympic Association Athletes’ Commission elections, which is slated to take place on Tuesday, November 3.
The Returning Officer, Sanjay K Srivastava, released the list of 12 candidates yesterdayThe list includes six male and six female athletes with several Olympic and world championship medallists in line to hold crucial positions.
According to the IOA’s rules, 10 members are to be elected to the Athletes’ CommissionThis means two of the 12 candidates will miss out in the upcoming election.
Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver and bronze medallist PV Sindhu and former world championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth will represent badmintonAthletics will have two-time Asian Games gold medal winning shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and long-distance runner Sudha Singh.
Olympic medallists Harmanpreet Singh and Salima Tete, the captains of India’s men’s and women’s hockey teams, have also filed their nominationsTokyo Olympics silver medal winning weightlifter Mirabai Chanu is also in the running alongside archery medallist Bombayla Devi, swimmer Sajan Prakash, fencer CA Bhavani Devi and Paris Olympic bronze medallist shooter Swapnil Kusale.
Manjeet Singh is the nominee from canoeing and kayaking.
The IOA’s Athletes’ Commission rules state that six members comprising three men and three women, must have participated in at least one of the last three editions of the Olympic GamesThe remaining four members must have won at least one medal at any of the last three editions of the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships or World Cups or the National Games.
The rules also state that efforts should be made to ensure that no sport has more than one representative on the commissionThis could make the selection process interesting as badminton, athletics and hockey each have two candidates.
The final decision will depend on the voting process with 34 athletes forming the electoral process.
Sportspersons of outstanding merit list may change
The IOA’s Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit (SOMs) list could also see changes ahead of the association’s electionsThe report said several names could be removed following concerns over doping violations and eligibility under the existing rules.
Prominent names on the SOMs list include former Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, IOA president PT Usha, vice-president Gagan Narang, wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, boxer Vijender Singh and former shutter Saina Nehwal.
The SOMs election is scheduled for November 9The process will be important in determining the composition of the IOA’s General House and its future leadership.
