NEW DELHI: The Archery Association of India (AAI) elected Assam’s BVP Rao as its new President after the institution conducted fresh polls held under the supervision of SY Quraishi, the Delhi High Court appointed administrator, Press Trust of India reports.
Rao, who had earlier represented the Archery Association of Assam as its vice-president, beat Rupak Debroy of Tripura by 49 votes to 36 in the contest for the President’s post at the elections held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.
A retired IAS officer of Assam cadre, Rao was also earlier associated with Sports Authority of India (SAI) in various capacities. For the last four years, he served as an advisor to the Telengana state government before resigning to contest for the AAI top job.
Maha Singh was elected as secretary while D K Vidyarthi won the contest for treasurer. Sunil Sharma was elected senior vice-president while Rajendra Singh Tomar and Purnima Mahato will be the vice presidents.
No observer from the Indian Olympic Association and Sports Ministry was present during the much-delayed elections, which were held under controversial circumstances as both bodies wanted the polls to be postponed. This is due to the fact that the bodies were at loggerheads with Quraishi, who was adamant on conducting the polls on Saturday as per a Supreme Court’s directive.
The differences crop up from certain clauses in the amended constitution, that in parts, did not tally with the National Sports Development Code of India 2011. Quraishi’s amended constitution focusses on the revised draft of the sports code and Justice Lodha’s recommendations for the BCCI.
After his election to the top job, Rao said he would work hard to help Indian archers win the elusive Olympic medal.
“I will focus the management of archery in the country which suffered a lot for the last several years,” Rao was quoted as saying to PTI.
After the elections, several Olympian and international archers such as Dola Banerjee, Limba Ram, Purnima Mahato, Chekrovolu Swuro and Bheigyabati Chanu, under the banner of Archers Commission of India, wrote a letter to Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, requesting to grant recognition to AAI.
“We would like to inform you that today is a historic day in the 45 years of existence of the AAI as the elections were conducted in a democratic way. This election will be a landmark as sportspersons like us got the right to vote in a sports association to choose its leaders,” the letter said.
“Now that these elections are held according to Sports Code, you are requested to to grant recognition so that the sport of archery will not suffer any more,” it added.
The former archers also requested the minister for a meeting to discuss issues relating to the establishment of Archers Commission of India.
