Suresh Kalmadi will not oversee Asian Athletics Championships, says India's athletics chief
Suresh 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.
Commonwealth Games 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.
"He will not," Sumariwalla insisted when asked at a media conference today (Friday) 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. Among the top Indian athletes vying for medals would be Asian Games champion Sudha Singh, who recently lowered her national mark and also attained qualification for the Moscow WC in the 3000m steeplechase.
She won silver medals in the last two Asian Championships in 2009 and 2011 and would be striving for gold in home conditions.
Top Maharashtra long distance runner Kavita Raut, who won a silver at the Asian Games in 10000m and bronze in the 5000m at Guangzhou, will be another top contender from India along with Preeja Sreedharan, who won the 10000m gold and 5000m silver at the last Asiad.
Also in the fray for top honours would be star discus throwers Krishna Poonia, surprise gold medal winner in the CWG Games which she followed with a bronze in the Asian Games held a month later, and Vikas Gowda who won the men's silver medal at Delhi and slipped to bronze standard in the Asiad in China.
Long jumper K Prem Kumar and triple jumper Renjith Maheswary, bronzer medalist in Delhi CWG, are good medal prospects among men, along with women's long jump defending champion Mayookha Johny, 800m prospect Tintu Lika, who won a bronze in Guangzhou, and high jumper Sahana Kumari.