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As expected, DR Akhilesh Das Gupta and his team have made a comeback on Monday in the elections held in Lucknow for the office bearers of the Badminton Association of India for a 4-year term starting from June 2014. The whole team was chosen unopposed except for the post of Secretary, Coaching and Development, for which the election will be held on 25th January.
Dr. Gupta said that their unanimous win is a token of the faith imposed on the entire group functioning for the BAI. He also highlighted that it was only on account of the dedicated concrete efforts by his team in mobilizing all possible resources, from finding franchises to organizing the event in different cities that led to the roaring success of this initiative. In the beginning, a section of the media was having apprehensions about the holding of the event like the IPL but the wonderful participation of the stars and overwhelming response from the supporters, media and the corporate world established that the far sighted planning by BAI proved rewarding.
Showing his commitment, Dr. Gupta announced that a fund for the welfare of former players will be created on the lines of one created by BCCI. For this year Rs 25 lakh will be allocated for the same. Former player of Lucknow Meenal Shah, who is critically ill, might become the first beneficiary.
Also Dr. Gupta announced that Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal will be participating in the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold tournament.
It is pertinent to add that the grand gala event organized last year on the lines of IPL got roaring success with the participation of may international stars and Dr. Gupta and his team were appreciated for their valuable contribution by the media. The following is the List of elected candidates:
- President: Akhilesh Das Gupta
- Vice-presidents: T.P.S. Puri, Devender Singh, Pradeep Gandhe, Ashok Singh, Arvind Singhal, Bijoy Koizam
- Chairman committees: Abdul Bari Siddiqui (Finance), S. Muralidharan (Court officials), S.A. Raval (Coaching development), O.D. Sharma (Tournament)
- General secretary: Vijay Sinha
- Treasurer: Ashok Bajaj
- Secretary – tournaments: K.C. Punnaiah Choudhary
- Secretary – coaching and development: Omar Rashid/K.N. Jaiswal (Election Jan 25)
- Joint secretaries: K.K. Sharma, N.C. Sudhir, J. Arawindan, P. Ankamma Choudary, Alaknanada Ashok, Narahar Thakur, Sekhar Biswas, K.N. Jaiswal
- Executive committee members: S.A. Shetty, Maniklal Saha, K. Lianhmingthanga, Hodam Gyaneswor Singh, Watizulu, K. Prabhakar Rao, Ramesh Nambiar, Ajay Singhania, S.T. Desai, Rajinder Sharma, Pradip Mohanty, M.C. Sethi.
