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 in Guwahati on Friday.
Sarma, who took over the reins of BAI in 2017, is also the Badminton Asia vice president and a member of the Badminton World Federation Executive Council member.
Former junior national coach Sanjay Mishra has been elected as 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.
“Badminton has been in the ascendancy in India for the last two decades and we are committed to continue that rise by providing better facilities to players and a robust governance system,” Sarma said after being re-elected. Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand has made a foray into BAI administration after being elected as vice-president along with ex Treasurer Anbumani Ramadoss and nine others.
“We congratulate Narahar Thakur on his nomination as the Vice President of BAI, which is a proud honour for our Association. There was consensus for all the posts and all candidates were elected unanimously. It’s wonderful to have our colleague from our own West Zone, Sanjay Mishra ji, as the General Secretary. After the difficult days that were endured due to Covid, we are confident that Sanjay ji who is a sportsperson and a former Junior National coach with the rest of BAI Team will take badminton to prosperous heights. We wish the BAI Team all the best”, stated Sandeep Heble, the Goa Badminton Association Secretary, who attended the BAI AGM along with Thakur.
“Goa is likely to hold 3 National level events during the upcoming season in addition to our State Calendar, and after a gap of 3 years, Senior Nationals will be held with Pune, Maharashtra likely to be the host city” added Heble.
BAI office-bearers:
President: Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Vice-President: Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Ajay Kumar, Anbumani Ramadoss, Narahar Thakur, Oma Datt Sharma, P. Gopi Chand, 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
