Tainted Suresh Kalmadi to seek re-election as Asian Athletic Association president

Tainted in the Commonwealth Games scam he might be, but a defiant Suresh Kalmadi will seek a re-election to the post of Asian Athletic Association's president for a third successive term.

Kalmadi, who is out on bail after being in jail for 10 months in the CWG scam case, will contest against senior vice-president of AAA, Brig Dahlan Jumaan Al-Hamad, in the elections to be held on July 1 here.

Kalmadi, who has been President of the AAA since 2000, will battle it out for a third term after being elected unopposed in the previous two polls.

"He is seeking re-election and is confident of winning the poll on the back of several new initiatives in Asian Athletics in the last 13 years," an Athletics Federation of India source told PTI.

"Before 2000, there were only two competitions in Asia - Asian Junior and Senior Championships - but now we have a host of events in a calender year like the Asian Grand Prix, Asian All Star and the Asian Youth Championships. We are hoping to get majority vote out of the 45 member countries and associations," he added.

His challenger, Al Hamad, is one of three vice-presidents in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) along with Sebastian Coe and Sergey Bubka.

Kalmadi was arrested in January 2012 under Sections 120 B and 420 (criminal conspiracy and cheating) of the Indian Penal Code for his alleged role in the Commonwealth Games Time Scoring Equipment scam.

In the July 1 election, to be conducted under the aegis of IAAF two days before the Asian Championships, each country will get one vote.

Al Hamad is likely to get some votes from 12 Arab countries but Kalmadi is likely to get support from South Asia and East Asia.

Last month, Hamad had said that he wants more reforms and sponsorship in Asian athletics.