Suresh Kalmadi, former member of the Indian National Congress (INC), former Member of Parliament of India, senior sports administrator and former president of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA)—a post he held for 13 years (2000–2013)—has been conferred the Asian Athletics Association President’s Award for his initiatives on the development of athletics in the Asian continent.
Adille Sumariwala, President, Athletics Federation of India, received the award on behalf of Mr. Kalmadi from current AAA President Dahlan Al-Hamad of Qatar, UAE, at the function held last night ahead of the start of Asian Athletics Championships. Al-Hamad succeeded Kalmadi as the new president after defeating him in the AAA presidential elections held in Pune in 2013.
In addition, Mr. Kalmadi was named Life President of the AAA in its council meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, in March, for his contribution to Asian athletics. He is credited with the introduction of several top sport athletics events including the Asian Athletics Grand Prix series, Asian Indoor Athletics Championships and Asian All Star Athletics Meet.
About AAA:
The AAA is the continental governing body for the sport of athletics in Asia. It is headquartered in Singapore. It organizes the Asian Championships in Athletics and other continental competitions. Besides those competitions mentioned earlier, the AAA also organizes the below competitions:
- Asian Championships
- Asian Junior Championships
- Asian Cross Country Championships
- Asian Marathon Championship
- Asian Race Walking Championships
21st Asian Athletics Championships, 2015
The 21st Asian Athletics Championships of 2015 is currently being held at the Wuhan Sports Centre in Wuhan, China, from 3-7 June 2015. Day 2 of the event happened today. Hosts China acquired half of the Gold medals at stake on the opening day. Inderjeet Singh of India became the eighth Indian ever to win the gold in the biennial meets of Asia, after he won the Men’s Gold in Shot Put Throw.