'What has he done for athletics?'

The ouster of scam-tainted Suresh Kalmadi from Asian Athletics Association (AAA) on Monday evoked mixed response from the Indian sporting fraternity with a few welcoming the verdict of the election while some others feel that the country will lose its grip on the association.

Legendary Milkha Singh advised Kalmadi to refrain from sports administration and focus on his political career.

“Suresh Kalmadi should have left sports administration after the CWG scandal and he should not have contested that AAA elections. Everybody knows his role in the CWG scam. My advice to him is that forget sports now and concentrate on your politics,” Milkhasaid.

“What has he done for Indian athletics? He does not know ABC of any sport. What do you expect from such person for the development of athletics?” Milkha fumed.

While the ‘Flying Sikh’ welcomed the end of Kalmadi era, another great of yesteryears, hurdler Gurbachan Singh Randhawa felt bad about Kalmadi being defeated in the elections. “Frankly speaking, I feel bad today. I can’t talk about anything else but Indian athletics will be at loss due to his (Kalmadi’s) removal. I have known him for several years. He has worked to the best of his abilities to promote Indian athletics,” Randhawa said.

Clean Sports India convenor BVP Rao was happy to find the controversial Kalmadi is out of the continental body.

“It’s the official end of Kalmadi era and it will pave the way for lot of people interested in sports promotion coming into administration,” Rao stated. “Next big battle is how to clean up the IOA. But in that regard, IOC is in tune with us as it prevented Kalmadi from attending IOA office unlike the world athletic body which turned a blind eye and did not take any action against him. We hope this will usher a new era in sports administration,” Rao added.