Chandigarh: The 2002 Asian Games champion in men’s shot put Bahadur Singh Sagoo has been elected unopposed as the new president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) during an Annual General Meeting (AGM) held here on Tuesday.
Sandeep Mehta, who was the senior joint secretary in the outgoing executive council, was elected unopposed as the AFI secretary, while BE Stanley Jones was made the treasurer.
Sagoo, who succeeded the long-serving Adille Sumariwalla for the AFI top job, said he will carry on the good work forward of his illustrious successor to achieve more success at the global level.
“In the last three Olympic Games cycle Indian athletics made good progress under the able leadership of Sumariwalla. Collective efforts of all the stakeholders, including the government will ensure Indian athletics make a good impression at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games in the USA,” Sagoo said.
Sagoo is a two-time national champion. He also competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. His best attempt of 20.40m came in 2004 in Koncha-Zaspa, Kyiv. Sagoo has a lifetime best effort of 20.40m.
He was also honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, in 2006 by former president APJ Abdul Kalam.
The outgoing president, Sumariwalla, said all rules were followed to elect new office bearers of the AFI for the next term of four years (2025-2029). Niels Lindholm was an observer (virtual) of World Athletics during the AFI elections of office bearers in Chandigarh.
“The elections of the AFI office bearers were held in a transparent way in Chandigarh on Tuesday. Justice (retd) Raj Shekhar Attri was returning officer,” Sumariwalla added.
Sumariwalla, one of the vice presidents of World Athletics, said immaculate planning in the last decade enabled Indian athletics to achieve good results at the global athletics. “We have good bench strength in events shortlisted by the AFI. More and more elite Indian athletes are reaching the finals at the World Athletics Championships. Three Indian male javelin throwers were in the top six at the 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships held in Hungary,” Sumariwalla said.
“During the 2023 World Athletics, India’s Olympic champion in men’s javelin throw Neeraj Chopra added a gold medal to his kitty of silver he won at 2022 Eugene World Athletics. The men’s 4x400m relay team finished fifth in Hungary,” he added.
Sumariwalla said the AFI will continue to tweak its strategy from time to time to achieve good results at the world level. “The AFI will organise the World Athletic Bronze Level Continental Tour event this year in Bhubaneswar. The AFI is also planning to organise a series of World Athletics events in future including World Relays in 2029.”
The AFI also plans to organise an invitational javelin throw competition this year and top ten global javelin throwers are expected to compete, Sumariwalla added.
At the domestic level, the focus has been to strengthen the district units and continue to fight the menace of doping and overage. “The AFI has made it mandatory for all district units to regularly conduct competitions,” he said.
(IANS)
