Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma Re-elected BAI President

Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma was re-elected unopposed as the President of Badminton Association of India (BAI) for another four years term from 2022 to 2026 at the General Body Meeting held on Friday.

Sarma, who took over the reins of BAI in 2017, had been instrumental in raising substantial funds for the development of the game in the last four years. He is also the Badminton Asia vice-president and a member of the Badminton World Federation Executive Council.

Former junior national coach Sanjay Mishra would be the new General Secretary with incumbent Ajay Kumar Singhania becoming vice-president in the new Executive Council. Maharashtra Badminton Association President Arun Lakhani will be the new treasurer, the BAI informed in a statement.

“Badminton has been in the ascendancy in India for the last two decades and we are committed to continuing that rise by providing better facilities to players and a robust governance system,” Sarma said after being re-elected.

Chief National Coach Pullela Gopichand made a foray into BAI administration after being elected as vice-president along with Anbumani Ramadoss and nine others, reported IANS.

The jumbo-sized newly-elected Executive Council will also have 11 vice-presidents alongside eight joint-secretaries and an equal number of committee members.

The newly-elected office-bearers are:

President: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Vice-president: Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Ajay Kumar, Anbumani Ramadoss, Narhar Thakur, Oma Datt Sharma, Pullela Gopichand, Ratu Techi, Sekhar Chanda Biswas, S Muralidharan, Viraj Sagar Das and Watizulu Suzumeren Jamir.

Hon General Secretary: Sanjay Mishra

Hon Treasurer: Arun Hanumandas Lakhani

Joint-secretaries: Anil Krishna Rao Choughule, Konda Prabhaker Rao, KK Sharma, Mayur V Parikh, N Shyamkumar Singh, Omar Rashid, P Anakamma Choudary and Surinder Mahajan

Executive members: BS Mankoti, Bamang Tago, H Lalnunsiama, Krishnanand Jaiswal, Nileen Kumar, Pradeep Srikrishna Gandhe, Pynbianglang Laloo, Sukanta Das, Sanjib Kumar and Ve Arunachallam.

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