Busan Asian Games champion in men’s shot put Bahadur Singh Sagoo and Sandeep Mehta were elected president and secretary general, respectively, of the Athletics Federation of India during an annual general meeting of the AFI held in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
BE Stanley Jones, meanwhile, was elected treasurer.
Adille Sumariwalla, the outgoing president said all rules were followed to elect new office bearers of the AFI for the next term of four years (2025-2029).
“The elections of the AFI office bearers were held in a transparent way in Chandigarh on Tuesday,” Sumariwalla added.
“Justice (retd) Raj Shekhar Attri was returning officer.”
Niels Lindholm was observer (virtual) of World Athletics during AFI elections of office bearers in Chandigarh.
The newly elected president 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,” Sagoo added.
“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.”
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,” Sumariwalla explained.
“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.”
During 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.
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,” he added. “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,” Sumariwalla said.