Jagamohan Pattnaik and Avijit Paul are all set to become president and general secretary respectively of Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) for a four-year term soon. The duo was elected unopposed after scrutiny of nominations at the OOA office in Barabati Stadium, Cuttack today.

Six vice-presidents, two joint-secretaries and the lone treasurer were also elected uncontested. For 11 posts of council members, nominations of 13 candidates have been found valid in the scrutiny. After the date of withdrawal on January 22, election results would be formally announced at the General Body Meeting on January 31.

Elections of OOA office-bearers were supposed to be held in September, 2020, but postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic. Jagamohan Pattnaik, who represents Kalahandi District Athletic Asssociation, would replace Samir Dey as president. Hitherto, he was functioning as a vice-president.

Originally a joint-secretary, Avijit Paul was made secretary in-charge of OOA in April 2019 after the demise of incumbent secretary M A Alam on 25 March, 2019. Paul is also functioning as a joint-secretary of Football Association of Odisha.

OOA OFFICE-BEARERS ELECTED UNOPPOSED: President: Jagamohan Pattnaik (Kalahandi DAA). Vice-presidents (6): Kamalakanta Pandey (Kandhamal DAA), Pratap Satpathy (Hockey Odisha), Kishore Kumar Biswal (Mayurbhanj DAA), Nalini Kumar Das (Dhenkanal DAA), Anup Kumar Patra (Koraput DAA), Dulal Chandra Pradhan (Sambalur DAA). General Secretary: Avijit Paul (Football Association of Odisha). Joint-Secretaries (2): Ashok Kumar Sahu (Ganjam DAA), Prabhat Kumar Bhol (Sundargarh DAA). Treasurer: Adhip Das (Odisha Athletics Association).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOTO: Undated file picture of Avijit Paul.