Scam-tainted Suresh Kalmadi was today ousted as president of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA), losing the re-election bid to Qatar’s Dahlan Jumaan Al-Hamad on the opening day of the continental body’s two-day Congress here.
Kalmadi, who is out on bail after spending ten months in jail for his alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games scam, lost 18-20 while seeking re-election to a post he has held for 13 years.
Al Hamad is the Qatar Athletics Federation president and is also senior vice-president of the Asian body.
The biennial Congress, before the July 3-7 Asian Athletics Championships, at a five-star hotel here is being attended by IAAF president Lamine Diack, besides some top officials from the AAA and the world body.
The Congress, which is the governing body of the association, consists of a council and not more than two delegates from each member of the AAA. However, each member country has only one vote in the elections.
The Athletics Federation of India is being represented by its president Adille Sumariwala and secretary C.K. Valson. The other members of the AAA council — a senior vice-president, five vice-presidents and eight executive members — will also be elected.
“Al Hamaad will be president for only two years as AAA is changing cycle so that it is in sync with IAAF from 2015,” the official said.
Incumbent IAAF chief Lamine Diack’s term runs from 2011 to 2015.
Kalmadi’s loss in the election is a big disappointment for him considering that the Congress of the AAA was being held at his hometown, which he is representing in the Parliament, and Asian Championships begin here from July 3.
It’s a sort of history repeating itself after 13 years as Kalmadi had ousted the then incumbent Bob Hassan of Indonesia in a tight presidential election in Jakarta in 2000.
Since then Kalmadi had returned as president unopposed thrice.
Understandably, the Kalmadi camp was disappointed and said that the invalid votes might have tilted the balance in favour of Al Hamad.
Some reports though have mentioned the uneasiness of his continuing as AAA chief due to his alleged role in the CWG scandal.
“We knew that it would be a tough fight but we were expecting Kalmadi to win. The invalid votes could have tilted the balance in favour of Al Hamad,” an Athletics Federation of India source told PTI.
The AFI had forwarded Kalmadi’s name for the president’s post as they did not want to lose a seat in the AAA.
Al Hamad, who was banking on the 12 votes from the Arab Block, had planned for the election meticulously. He reached Pune early and held separate talks with officials of other countries.
While announcing his candidature in May, Al Hamad had said if elected he would bring more sponsorship money while also stating that the sport in the continent lacks proper marketing.
“There are a lot of opportunities in Asia which we still do not utilise. I see the opportunity is there, but we are not trying to bring that opportunity through constructive planning. We lack in marketing side,” Al Hamad had said.
“The IAAF has many Asian sponsors. But AAA is not sponsored by anybody. And why? Because we are not prepared. We don’t have that final product to present. That’s why we have to have it. And I believe that business people don’t come to you unless you are really prepared and you have the right product for them. So we need to have the right product for them, the right programme, the right staff, and then businesses come.”
The Kalmadi camp said he had done a lot for the growth of athletics in the last 13 years by increasing the number of competition.
“Before 2000, there were just two competitions — Asian Junior and Asian Senior Championships. Now we have so many other competitions — Asian Grand Prix Series, Asian All Star, Asian Marathon, Asian Walk Championships. So he has done a lot for Asian Athletics,” an official from the Kalmadi camp had said.