Nanavati elected swimming federation secretary again

Margao: Paying little heed to the sports ministry guidelines, members of the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) today re-elected Virendra Nanavati as its general secretary for the sixth time.

Talking to reporters after the AGM, Nanavati said the Indian Olympic Association had advised them not to amend their constitution acting on the sports ministry guidelines. "The elections were conducted in a transparent manner with observers from the world bodies (FINA, IOA and the Sports Ministry). It was proposed on the floor and there was no contender," Nanavati told reporters. Nanavati has been at the helm of the SFI since 1984, even as the guidelines laid down by the government restricts the tenure of secretaries and treasurers to a maximum of two terms of four years each and fixes a retirement age of 70.The guidelines also put a cap of a maximum of 12 years for presidents of all sports bodies, including the IOA. The Sports Ministry says it has studied the constitution of various international bodies, including that of the IOC, before deciding on the caps. However, the IOC and international sports federations do not recommend any restrictions on affiliated bodies. Meanwhile, Nanavati was confident that the Indian swimmers would do well in the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi from October 3-14."If you see the progress for past three years, there has been a very good showing by our swimmers. We got seven medals at the Asian championships, a first since 1986. We are hopeful of a good showing at the Commonwealth Games as well. Till now, we have not got any medal at the CWG but we will open our account this time," he said. PTI