Mumbai, June 30: Joaquim Carvalho-led group, barring fellow-Olympian Gurbux Singh Grewal, swept the polls of the Mumbai Hockey Association held after five years.
Including himself and his 1984 Los Angeles Games teammate and former India skipper M M Somaya, Carvalho and his band won 13 out of 14 posts contested for at the much-hyped hustings yesterday.
Carvalho and Somaya contested and won two out of nine managing committee members' posts.
Former international Puran Singh Mann, from Carvalho's group, was also elected to the managing committee.
The lone reverse for Carvalho's group came when incumbent and ruling group leader Kehar Singh retained the secretary's post when he thumped 1968 Mexico Games team member Gurbux 130-69 for the all-important post.
There were charges of rigging, but polling officer and veteran sports scribe S K Sham dismissed them saying the elections were held in a free and fair manner and so too was the counting of votes and invalidating these.
All other candidates of the Kehar Singh group, including former international and current Junior India coach Clarence Lobo, tasted defeat, despite backing from four-time Olympian and former captain Dhanraj Pillay.
Mangha Singh Bakshi, son of previous president Dilbagh Singh, was unanimously chosen as the president of the new team, which has to guide Mumbai hockey for the next three years.
In the run-up to the polls, both groups had promised Mumbai hockey fans two brand new synthetic turfs, including one in the suburbs, a new clubhouse at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium, new floodlights and getting extension of the lease of the premises from the Maharashtra government.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 11:12