Kanwar elected new volleyball body president

The much awaited and delayed elections of the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) got over in Delhi, where the entire team led by president Virender Kanwar was elected in a tight contest. Kanwar beat his nearest rival Prem Singh Bajor by 33 votes to 31 to win the top position in the new executive body.

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Ramanand Chaudhary beat Nilesh Jagtap by 33 votes to 29 to become the new secretary general of the federation. Hari Singh Chauhan was elected as the new treasurer, while Anand Sankar Rajhans and Kuldeep Vats were elected to the two posts of joint secretaries. Binoy Joseph, Mithlesh Kumar Singh, Uttam Raj, S Ramadasse and Partha Das were elected as executive committee members.

Interestingly, despite the new election, the international federation (FIVB) has decided to appoint a three-member steering committee to help the new federation officials. Hitesh Malhotra, Empowerment & NF Relations of FIVB, Steve Tutton, Head of Technical & Development FIVB, and Rohit Rajpal, IOA executive committee member, have been named as members of the committee to help the new body.

Speaking to The Tribune, Kanwar said that all these issues will be discussed in the special general body meeting that will be held in a week's time.

"I dedicate this victory to the players who wanted an elected body to run the federation. As per all other issues, we will discuss everything in the meeting with our members and decide how to move forward," he said.

New elections soon

Interestingly, the new executive will not be in office for the next four years. As per the High Court order, the new body is to amend its constitution as per the National Sports Code of India, 2011, and all other recent court orders and submit a report to the court by the third week of September.

Besides, they have to appoint all committee members, including the Athlete Commission and Internal Complaints Committee. Once the election gets the stamp of the court, there will be a fresh election held to elect a new executive body to run the sport in India.

"The court order is very clear. New election will be called once the constitution is aligned with the sports code and various court orders. The reason for this is that the old committee could not have brought these changes as they had finished their tenure," said a source on condition of anonymity.