The much long delayed elections of the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) got over in Delhi, where the entire team led by president Virender Kanwar was elected in a tight contest.
Meanwhile, the international federation (FIVB) has appointed a three-member steering committee to “help the new federation officials”, The Tribune reports. Hitesh Malhotra, Empowerment & NF Relations of FIVB, Steve Tutton, head of Technical & Development FIVB, and Rohit Rajpal, IOA executive committee member, have been named as members of the committee to help the new body.
Rajpal was also the chairman of the ad-hoc panel that ran the affairs of the VFI for nearly 14 months.
“The world body FIVB has invested heavily in India in the last 15 months. They helped in setting up a Centre of Excellence as part of the SAI centre. So it wanted that a steering committee be formed to keep track of developments so that the good work can be carried forward,” Rajpal told PTI.
Speaking to The Tribune, Kanwar said that all issues will be discussed in the special general body meeting that will be held in a week’s time.
“I dedicate this victory to the players who wanted an elected body to run the federation. As per all other issues, we will discuss everything in the meeting with our members and decide how to move forward,” he said.
As per the High Court order, the new body is to amend its constitution as per the National Sports Code of India, 2011, and all other recent court orders and submit a report to the court by the third week of September.
Besides, they have to appoint all committee members, including the Athlete Commission and Internal Complaints Committee. Once the election gets the stamp of the court, there will be a fresh election held to elect a new executive body to run the sport in India.
“As per the Court order it is an interim body till the petitions regarding the elections are not decided. Also after the federation brings in required amendments, a fresh election will be held, the court order further stated. The federation will also have to provide timely reports on developments to the Court,” a VFI press release has noted.
Coming back to the elections, Kanwar beat his nearest rival Prem Singh Bajor by 33 votes to 31 to win the top position in the new executive body, the daily further reports.
Ramanand Chaudhary beat Nilesh Jagtap by 33 votes to 29 to become the new secretary general of the federation. Hari Singh Chauhan was elected as the new treasurer, while Anand Sankar Rajhans and Kuldeep Vats were elected to the two posts of joint secretaries. Binoy Joseph, Mithlesh Kumar Singh, Uttam Raj, S Ramadasse and Partha Das were elected as executive committee members.
