PT Usha Enters IOA Race via Ice Hockey Nomination Ahead of Dec 5 Polls

PT Usha refused to walk away quietly.

After crashing out of direct qualification in Monday’s contentious Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit (SOM) vote by finishing fifth and missing the four available women’s slots, the sprint legend engineered a tactical flanking maneuver. She secured a backdoor route into the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) General Assembly through the National Sports Federation (NSF) quota, clinching nomination as the women’s representative for the Ice Hockey Association of India (IHAI).

The maneuver caught her administrative rivals off guard.

Electoral officer Sanjay K Srivastava unveiled the provisional electoral college on Thursday for the high-stakes IOA Executive Council elections scheduled for Dec 5. Alongside IHAI male nominee Harjinder Singh, Usha’s inclusion confirms she will contest the top post for a second term, silencing opponents who believed her SOM ballot defeat had ended her administrative career.

Yet the road to the ballot box remains combustible.

Usha filed four formal complaints with Srivastava, citing aggressive campaigning by incumbent administrators, coordinated messages demanding proof of voter participation, and improper pressure invoking the Union Sports Ministry. Taking the dispute international, she dispatched a formal petition on Nov 9 to International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry, demanding an independent inquiry into whether external government machinery compromised the integrity of the voting booth.

Mutiny Across Federation Slates

The provisional roll published by Srivastava exposed fierce factional warfare inside several marquee sports bodies.

At the All India Tennis Association (AITA), interim president Chintan Parikh and Rushmi Chakravarthi captured the two representation tickets, shutting out sitting IOA executive council member Rohit Rajpal. Rajpal filed a stinging formal challenge, charging that Parikh sidestepped the mandatory executive committee meeting to rubber-stamp the nominations through a handpicked advisory panel. Rajpal questioned why Olympic bronze medalist Leander Paes was discarded in favor of Parikh himself, escalating tensions ahead of the two men facing off for the AITA presidency on Nov 27.

Family dynamics surfaced at the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF).

Federation chief Sahdev Yadav submitted his own name as the male representative while nominating his wife, Sabina Yadav, for the federation's female ballot spot.

Old-guard administrators staged simultaneous comebacks across multiple federations. Former Athletics Federation of India (AFI) boss Adille Sumariwalla, who pulled out of the SOM contest, surfaced on the NSF slate alongside Asian Games gold medalist Jyotirmoyee Sikdar. Sumariwalla retains his own ambitions for the IOA presidency. Former secretary general Rajeev Mehta and National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) veteran Ajay Patel also secured spots on the roll, reinforcing the return of the IOA's established administrative bloc.

Hockey India witnessed its own executive purge. Secretary general Bhola Nath Singh and Joydeep Kaur took the federation's spots, excluding Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey entirely amid a protracted battle for executive leverage. Elsewhere, All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey claimed a seat, while the handball federation pushed forward Udit Sheth, whose administrative authority faced legal scrutiny after the Delhi High Court quashed the recognition of Yogasana Bharat.

Srivastava’s office will publish the certified, final electoral roll on Nov 15 following the completion of scrutiny hearings and formal candidate withdrawals.