Former member of the International Olympic Council Randhir Singh is set to become the head of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) after emerging as the sole candidate for the top post on the September 8 Elections.
The 77-year-old Randhir was serving as the acting chief of the continental sports apex body. He has also served as a secretary general of the Indian Olympic Association. The OCA released a statement and confirmed that Randhir is the "sole eligible candidate" for the post.
"The OCA election commission can confirm that OCA acting president Randhir Singh is the sole eligible candidate to be nominated for election of the OCA General Assembly on 8 September 2024," the OCA said in a statement.
The OCA informed that the Election Committee unanimously approved the nomination of Randhi. "The Election Committee, chaired by Justice Rohinton Nariman, met today to review the CVs and eligibility requirements as per OCA Constitution, the Election Rules and Guidelines, of all nominated candidates submitted by Member NOCs of OCA by the 21 July 2024 deadline. The Committee unanimously approved the nomination of Mr Singh who was nominated by the NOC of India and supported by 27 Member NOCs of OCA," the statement added.
The NOC of Mongolia nominated the Mongolian Olympic Committee President Battushig Batbold but he pulled out his candidature after failing to fulfill the eligible requirements. "The Mongolian Olympic Committee President Mr. Battushig Batbold who was nominated by the NOC of Mongolia was deemed ineligible by the Committee as he does not fulfil the eligibility requirements set out in the OCA Constitution Articles 22.1.2.1 , 22.1.2.2 and 22.1.2.3 that the OCA President must either have served as President of his NOC for at least eight years or served as an OCA EB member for at least eight years and must be supported by 2 NOCs . Subsequently after the meeting the Committee was informed by an email from the Secretary General NOC of Mongolia, that Mr. Batbold has withdrawn his candidate from the President position," the statement added.
The Committee also evaluated the nominations for the posts of five OCA Zonal Vice Presidents and the five OCA Executive Board members. The Election Committee deemed eligible the following candidates for the Vice President posts:
• East: Mr. Timothy Fok (Hong Kong) and Mr. Battushig Batbold (Mongolia)
• Southeast: Dr. Norza Zakaria (Malaysia)
• South Asia: HRH Prince Jigyel Wangchuk (Bhutan) and Mr. Maxwell De Silva (Sri Lanka)
• Central Zone: Mr. Otabek Umarov (Uzbekistan) and Mr. Sadyr Mamytov (Kyrgyzstan)
• West Asia: Dr. Thani Al Kuwari (Qatar)
"Nominations for the Executive Board Members from all the zones were considered eligible. However, based on Art. 16.2.3 OCA Constitution, in case the General Assembly will elect a male candidate for the position of Vice-President, then the EB Member from that same zone shall be a female, and a male candidate will automatically not be eligible. There were no nominations received from South Asia Zone for the position of Executive Board Member," the statement added.
