Saina fails to get elected as one of four athlete IOC members

TIL Desk Sports/ Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has failed to get elected as one of the four athlete members of the International Olympic Committee as she finished sixth in the race to become a member of Athletics Commission of the global governing body of sport. Saina got 1233 votes in the election in which all the athletes participating in 2016 Rio Games were eligible to vote. She was one of the 23 top sportspersons from across the world nominated for elections for the four seats.

Saina, the 2012 London Games bronze medallist, had crashed out in the group stage of the women’s singles events in Rio Olympics. The election was held over the past 25 days in the Olympic Village located here. After the approval by the IOC Session, the four elected athletes will become IOC members for an eight-year term of office.

Beijing Olympics gold medallist fencer Britta Heidemann of Germany was elected with 1,603 votes, followed by South Korean table tennis great Seung-Min Ryu with 1,544, former swimmer Daniel Gyurta of Hungary with 1,469 votes and Russian world record holder pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva with 1,365. A total of 5,185 athletes out of 11,245 voted.