Poonam Mahajan elected first woman president of BFI

For the first time since its inception in 1950, the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) got a woman as its president when Poonam Mahajan was unanimously elected the head of the federation here on Saturday.

Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA) president Poonam, who is also a Member of Parliament from Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha constituency, was unanimously elected the new president for a four-year term at BFI’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Roopam Harish Sharma, secretary of the Delhi Basketball Association (DBA), was unanimously elected the secretary general of BFI.

Basketball Association of Assam secretary Mukut Medhi was named the new treasurer of the 26-member BFI executive committee.

From the 32 affiliated units of BFI, 22 took part in the AGM. The meeting was attended by 40 members of the 62 eligible voters where former judge Mukesh Vatsa was the Returning Officer.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) appointed Virendra Nanavati as the AGM Observer while Virendra Bhandarkar was the Government of India observer. From the International Basketball Association (FIBA) Asia, Mageshwaran Saba overlooked the proceedings.

The list of new office bearers elected for a four-year term, from 2015 to 2019:

President: Poonam Mahajan (Maharashtra)
Senior Vice-President: R.S. Chahal (Jharkhand)
Vice-President (Women): Nandini Bassapa (Assam)
Vice-Presidents: Ashok Kumar Sahu (Odisha), Rajesh Patel (Chhattisgarh), Ajeet Singh Rathore (Rajasthan), Dalbir Singh Kharab (Haryana), Vinod Vachani (Uttarakhand)
Secretary General: Roopam Harish Sharma (Delhi)
Associate Secretary: Kulvinder Singh Gill (Madhya Pradesh), Ashok Rangeen (Rajasthan), Prempal Singh (Jammu and Kashmir), Gautam Ganguly (West Bengal), Sushil Kumar (Bihar)
Treasurer: Mukut Medhi (Assam)
Executive Members: V.C. Hashim (Kerala), Rajinder Singh Chib (Jammu and Kashmir), Matilal Saha (Tripura), Naresh Kumar Sandhu (Haryana), J.B.S. Mann (Uttarakhand), Harbhajan Singh (Jharkhand), G.A. Sanatamba Sharma (Assam), Manoj Gaikwad (Madhya Pradesh), Sashikant Pandey (Bihar), K.V. Singh Deo (Odisha), Clive Dunai (Meghalaya).