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New Delhi: Legendary sprinter P T Usha is set to become the first woman president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in the body&rsquo;s 95-year-long history. Usha will also be the first Olympian and international medallist to head the IOA, which goes to polls on December 10.
The 58-year-old multiple Asian Games gold medallist emerged as the lone candidate to file the nomination for IOA president&rsquo;s post. Returning officer Umesh Sinha didn&rsquo;t receive any nominations on the first two days of filing the papers on Friday and Saturday, but 24 candidates applied for various office-bearers&rsquo; posts on Sunday. TOI had reported on Sunday that Usha will be filing her nomination for the IOA&rsquo;s top post and could well be the lone candidate in the fray.
Usha, who will be elected unopposed, is also one of the eight &lsquo;Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit&rsquo; (SOMs) selected by the M C Mary Kom-led Athletes Commission of IOA.
Usha, who missed out on a bronze by the 1/100th of a second at the 1984 Olympics, finishing fourth, was congratulated by several BJP politicians on twitter for her unopposed election, including former union sports and current law minister Kiren Rijiju, who wrote: &ldquo;Congratulations to legendary Golden Girl, Smt. P T Usha on being elected as the president of Indian Olympic Association. I also congratulate all the sporting heroes of our country on becoming&nbsp;the office bearers of the prestigious IOA!&rdquo; Usha was nominated by the BJP to the Rajya Sabha in July.
Fondly known as the &lsquo;Payyoli Express&rsquo;, Usha will be the first sportsperson to have played for the country at the highest level and also become the IOA chief since Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, who featured in a cricket Test in 1934. Usha retired in 2000 after dominating Indian and Asian athletics for two decades.
She won 11 Asian Games medals, including four gold in a single edition at the 1986 Seoul meet. She also won 23 medals, including 14 gold, at the Asian Championships from 1983-98.
Ajay Patel, chairman of Gujarat State Co-operative Bank and Ahmedabad District Co-Operative Bank, is set to be the senior vice president, being the lone candidate for the post. He is president of the Gujarat State Rifle Association.
Similarly, Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) president, Sahdev Yadav, is set to be the new treasurer of the IOA, with All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey as the male joint secretary. The lone female joint secretary&rsquo;s post will be a contest between Alaknanda Ashok, Shalini Thakur Chawla and Suman Kaushik.
London Olympics bronze medallist shooter Gagan Narang, one of the SOMs, is the only candidate for the post of one male vice president. Two candidates, Rajlaxmi Singh Deo and Alaknanda Ashok, have filed nominations for the post of vice president (woman).
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