Adille Sumariwalla to be elected as AFI president for third term, Anju Bobby George to take charge as senior vice president

Gurugram: Incumbent Adille Sumariwalla will be unanimously elected as Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president for a third term while former long jumper Anju Bobby George will be made the senior vice-president during its Annual General Body Meeting on Saturday. Ravinder Chaudhary, who has served AFI for a long time in various capacities, will be elected unopposed as the secretary. There will be no contest for other posts also as there is only one candidate for all of them. Sandeep Mehta, who had filed nominations for the secretary’s post, had withdrawn from the contest. He will now be the senior joint secretary. Madhukant Pathak will be elected unopposed as treasurer. The AGM also will elect five joint secretaries and eight executive committee members without a contest. AFI Planning Committee head Lalit Bhanot is one of the executive committee members. He was also an executive committee member in the last term. The two-day AGM is being held “in person” at a plush hotel with the main agenda being to formally elect one president, one senior vice-president, five vice-presidents, one secretary, one senior joint secretary, five joint secretaries, one treasurer and eight executive committee members. For the legendary Anju, the lone Indian to win a medal in the World Championships (a bronze in 2003), it will be her highest post in the AFI Executive Committee. She was in the executive committee of the last term by virtue of being a member of the Athletes’ Commission. Anju’s senior vice-presidentship will be the highest post to have occupied by a woman in AFI’s history. She will also be the first woman vice-president of the AFI. For Sumariwalla, the coming four-year term (2020-2024) will be his last as AFI president as the National Sports Code of 2011 allows only three continuous terms as head of a national sports federation. He was first elected as AFI chief in 2012. The AFI constitution mandates at least a woman among vice-presidents, joint secretaries, and executive committee members. The elections were due to be held in April but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The AFI in May had deferred its elections and extended the term of its office bearers during a Special General Meeting held online. At that time, the federation had said that elections can only be held “in person” and not online.