Olympic medalist Mary Kom has been unanimously elected as the chairperson of the Athletes Commission of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) while table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal has been elected as the vice-chairperson of the body.
Previously on Monday, it was revealed that Mary Kom, PV Sindhu and Commonwealth Games medalist Achanta Sharath Kamal were among the ten eminent sportspersons who will constitute the new ‘Athletes Commission’ of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). As per a press release from IOA, the list of 10 members of the commission was announced by Returning Officer (RO) Umesh Sinha in New Delhi on Monday.
“The list constitutes eminent athletes including, Olympic Bronze Medalist and Padma Vibhushan boxer Mary Kom, Double Olympic medalist and Padma Bhushan awardee badminton ace PV Sindhu, Olympic medalist and Padma Shri shooter Gagan Narang, Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Padma Shri TT player Achanta Sharath Kamal, Olympian and CWG Gold medalist Padma Shri rower Bajrang Lal, Khel Ratna awardee and Olympic silver medalist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, Khel Ratna awardee and Olympian Rani Rampal, Asian Cup Gold winner and Olympian Shiva Keshavan, Olympian and CWG Fencing championship gold medalist and Arjuna Awardee Bhavani Devi and Om Prakash Karhana made it to the Athletes’ Commission, uncontested,” said a press release from IOA.
The elected members were to elect a Chairperson and a Vice Chairperson from amongst themselves and and select 8 Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit (SOMs). The last date for submitting an application for SOMs is 4 pm on 15 November, 2022.
The SOMs along with the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the Athletes’ Commission will constitute the electoral college for the IOA President’s election scheduled on 10 December, 2022.
The electoral college of the Athletes’ Commission consisted of names of 42 athletes nominated by 36 National Sports Federations. The nominations were filed till 5 pm of November 13, 2022, following which a provisional list was published by the RO on the evening of 13 November.