JOIN USCWG scam-tainted Suresh Kalmadi will not oversee the conduct of the 20th Asian Athletics Championships from July 3-7 in Pune, even if he remains the president of the continental body at the elections on July 1, Indian athletic body’s chief Adille Sumariwalla said on Friday
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“He will not,” Sumariwalla insisted when asked at a media conference whether Kalmadi will oversee the organisation of the championships if he retains his post at the Asian Athletics Association’s Congress to be held two days prior to the start of the championships.
“The AAA Congress is held as a part of the Asian Championships, like the IOC’s Congress is held as part of the Olympic Games and the IAAF Congress is held as part of the World Athletics Championship,” explained the former sprinter.
Kalmadi, a former president of the Indian Olympic Association, is under a cloud after being arrested by the CBI in April 2011 on corruption charges as the chairman of the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi three years ago and is out on bail.
He is currently the president of the AAA, a post that he won first in 2000 and has continued to hold on to. The AAA elections are to be held on July 1, with Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, currently AAA’s senior vice-president, challenging Kalmadi.
Each country will get one vote at the elections. Al Hamad is banking on votes from the 12 Arab countries but Kalmadi is hopeful of strong support from South Asia and East Asia. Hamad had said that he wants more reforms and sponsorship in Asian athletics.