PT Usha Elected As First Woman President Of Indian Olympic Association

India's legendary athlete PT Usha will be formally elected as the first woman president.

PT Usha in action. ( Image Source :Getty )

During the governing body's polls on Saturday,  India's legendary athlete PT Usha will be formally elected as the first woman president of the Indian Olympic Association. The 58-year-old Usha, a multiple Asian Games gold medallist and fourth-place finisher in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics 400m hurdles final, will be declared elected unopposed for the top post in the polls being held under the supervision of Supreme Court-appointed retired SC judge L Nageswara Rao.

Track and field legend PT Usha elected first woman president of Indian Olympic Association

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 10, 2022

The elevation of Usha to the top job will also mark the end of the long-drawn crisis in the faction-ridden IOA, which was warned of a possible suspension by the International Olympic Committee if elections, originally due in December last year, are not held this month.

IOC member Nita Ambani also wished PT Usha and said, "Delighted to see so many women representatives in Indian Olympic Association's Executive Council".

Delighted to see so many women representatives in Indian Olympic Association's Executive Council: IOC member Nita Ambani, welcoming PT Usha as the first woman President of IOA

(File pic) pic.twitter.com/FxfTacU25x

— ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2022

The elections will be held to choose a joint secretary (female) and four ordinary members of the executive council and 77 members of the electoral college will cast their votes.

Alaknanda Ashok of the Badminton Association of India and Suman Kaushik of the Netball Federation of India are in the fray in a straight fight for the joint secretary's (female) post. The voters will choose four members of the executive council out of the eight candidates in the fray.

The eight candidates are Amitabh Sharma, Bhupender Singh Bajwa, Cyrus Poncha, Harjinder Singh, Harpal Singh, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Rohit Rajpal, and Vitthal Shirgaonkar.

It will be an altogether new responsibility for Usha, an iconic track and field star, as she has no experience of holding any top office earlier. She is currently the chairperson of the junior selection committee of the Athletics Federation of India. She has also been on the various national awards committees set up by the government, over the years.

Usha, fondly known as the 'Payyoli Express', is being seen as a candidate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which had nominated her as a Rajya Sabha member in July.

 

(With PTI Inputs)