Randhir Singh not to contest IOA election next year

New Delhi: Indian Olympic Association Secretary General Randhir Singh announced that he would not seek re-election when the IOA holds its General Assembly meeting next year.

This would effectively mean that the veteran administrator would retire from sports administration once his existing tenures in various sports bodies come to an end. "I would like to inform that in the 2012 General Assembly meeting of Indian Olympic Association, I will not be standing for any post in the Olympic movement in India," Randhir wrote in a letter to his colleagues in the IOA. The 65-year-old insisted that he has taken this decision in order to make way for the youngsters. "I am looking forward to make way for the youngsters. There are a lot of good young administrators. As a sportsman you want to retire at the top, and similarly as an administrator I want to leave when I am at the top," Randhir told reporters. Stating that he had already served the Olympic movement in India for a long time both as a sportsperson and a sports administrator, Randhir made it clear that he would be completing his remaining tenures with various sports bodies. "I was elected to the IOA as a joint Secretary in 1984 and as the Secretary General of the IOA in 1987. At present I have one year to complete my tenure in the IOA till 2012. "I have also been elected for the sixth time unanimously as the Secretary General of the Olympic Council of Asia. The last elections took place this year and my tenure with the OCA will be till 2015," he said. PTI