NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 3: All's well that ends well. So, as expected, Suresh Kalmadi retained his position as president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and, more or less, the same team to reign supreme until the next elections. But the 40-kg garland, specially flown in from Chennai by a supporter, around his neck must have given an indication of the heavy burden he will have to shoulder the next four years.The threat perception, which loomed large, until a couple of days before the poll dissipated in the misty evening yesterday at a dinner hosted in hounour of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who is also the president of All-India Tennis Association. Just before that some political heavyweights, including Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, put their heads together and brought round Abhay Singh Chautala, the potential presidential candidate against Kalmadi, to withdraw from the race.As an expression of his solidarity, Chautala also made it to the party at Kalmadi's residence as did his campers. And fittingly enough, Chautala was today inducted into the IOA family as one of the 12 vice-presidents.The AGM, which began at 11 in the morning passed off peacefully and the unanimous choice of Kalmadi being a foregone conclusion, the entire process took less than 20 minutes. Kalmadi, as was to be expected, was authorised to pick his team and this process took as long as two hours and when he announced the name of Randhir Singh as his secretary-general several faces lit up, putting an end to the anxiety.The IOA team: Life presidents: Ashwini Kumar, B.S. Adityan; Advisers: R.K. Khanna, R.L. Anand; President: Suresh Kalmadi; vice-presidents: V.K. Malhotra, A.S. Chautala, J.S. Gehlot, PR Das Munshi, Digvijay Singh, Vidya Stokes, GS Mander, MC Chowhan, VD Nanavati, Avinish C. Kohli, K. Murugan and A.K. Matoo.Secretary General: Randhir Singh; Treasurer: Raj Chopra; Joint-secretaries: Lalit Bhanot, Amrit Bose, K.S. Sahota, Harish Sharma, SM Bali and Arvind Khanna. Executive Council Members: SS Dhindsa, S Ashtekar, HJ Dora, AB Shah, A Sharma, P Malleswaran, Kuldip Vats, Munin Nobis, MM Abdul Rahman (all from State Olympic Associations).
