Sports
Al-Hamad elected Asian Athletics Association chief, Susanthika and Perera elected to sub committees
Jul 01, 201306:31 PM
Qatar’s Dahlan Jumaan Al-Hamad has been elected as the President of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) while G.L.S. Perera and Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka have been elected to two sub committees.
Susanthika, the first Sri Lankan to win an Olympic medal in any sprint event, was elected for the Women’s Committee while Perera had contested for a slot in the cross country and marathon committee.
Suresh Kalmadi’s 13-year run as the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) president ended on Monday after he lost his re-election bid 18-20 to Al-Hamad in a closely fought battle on the first day of the continental body’s two-day Congress.
It was a repeat of the 2000 elections, when Kalmadi, a former president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), won the AAA elections for first time beating Indonesian Bob Hassan 19-15 on his home turf in Jakarta.
This time, Kalamdi, who is out on bail after having spent nine months in Delhi’s Tihar jail on charges of corruption the run-up to the Commonwealth Games, faced the toughest competition from Al Hamad, a senior AAA vice president and president of the Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF).
The 20th AAA Congress, before the July 3-7 Asian Athletics Championships, was held in Pune and also attended by International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) President Lamine Diack.
The Congress, which is the governing body of the association, consists of a Council and not more than two delegates from each member of the AAA. However, each member country has only one vote in the elections.
