Moscow, Nov 9 (IANS) The person who takes the helm at the All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) after the elections scheduled for December, should fully focus on his work rather than combine it with other responsibilities, renowned Russian pole vaulter and candidate for the ARAF presidency Yelena Isinbayeva has said.
On Tuesday, the Athletics Federation of the Stavropol region decided to nominate Sports Minister of the Samara region Dmitry Shlyakhtin as a candidate for the position of ARAF's President. As reported earlier, Yelena Isinbayeva and high jumper Andrei Silnov were also nominated.
"Basically, it doesn't matter who becomes the ARAF President as long as the vision, the strategy and the goals are the same," Isinbayeva told TASS.
The two-time Olympic champion believes that looking after the affairs of the ARAF should be the new president's main occupation.
"This person should devote all his free time to improving the situation in the federation and be keenly interested in solving the problems so that our athletes get an opportunity to take part in international competitions," Isinbayeva noted.
"So, whoever takes over the federation, be me it or Dmitry Anatolyevich or someone else, the work in the ARAF should be a priority. As you may know, our federation is large, we are facing many problems, so low-performance is not an option," she concluded.
The elections for the ARAF President are scheduled for December 9.
--IANS
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