Barring the three joint-secretaries, all office-bearers of Odisha Basketball Association (OBA) were elected unopposed for a four-year term (2021-2025) today. According to press release from Odisha Olympic Association (OOA), elections were held during the Annual General Meeting of the OBA at the meeting hall of OOA, Barabati Stadium, Cuttack.

As expected, the results of the elections turned out to be an old-wine-in-new-bottle story. The only notable change that occurred was a swapping of the top two posts. Incumbent secretary Gyana Ranjan Parida became the new president, while the reigning president Ashok Kumar Sahu became the new secretary.

Barring two people, no new face ventured to file nomination, knowing it very well that it would be an exercise in futility. Interestingly, of the two new aspirants, senior basketball coach and Technical Cell member of the Department of Sports & Youth Services, Government of Odisha, Rajendra Prasad Pani chose to withdraw his candidature for the post of vice-president, two days before the election. For the record, Pani had filed his candidature as representative of of Khurda District Basketball Association.

That left former basketball player-turned-referee Mohammad Sahed of Bhubaneswar Basketball Association as the one and only new face in the fray, contesting for one of three joint-secretary posts against three other candidates and forced OBA to go for a voting.

It was inevitable that Sahed would lose and he lost badly, getting only three out of 49 votes. But in his defeat, Sahed proved that he had courage and conviction to challenge the hegemony of the ruling group. For the record, out of a total of 61 voters, 49 exercised their rights.

With same group of office-bearers ruling the roost in OBA, the sport has become stagnant in the state. New and young office-bearers would have been helpful in providing new ideas and fresh energy for the growth of basketball. But the outcome of the elections has proved that the sport is destined to suffer for many more years.

OBA OFFICE-BEARERS ELECTED FOR THE TERM 2021-2025:
President: Gyana Ranjan Parida (Cuttack District Athletic Association).
Working President: Saurav Behera (Club The Supreme)
Vice-Presidents (6): Syed Akmal Ali (Kendrapara District Athletic Association), Sarat Chandra Mohapatra (MYC), Rashmi Ranjan Samantray (Bhadrak District Athletic Association), NB Jadav (Club The Entertainer), Madan Rao (Rovers Athletic Association), Amiya Mohapatra (Odisha Students Club).
Secretary: Ashok Kumar Sahu (Ganjam District Athletic Association).
Joint-Secretaries (3): Dwarika Sekhar Mohanty (Odisha Students Club), Amit Dasmohapatra (Puri District Athletic Association), Tabasum Bahar (Kendrapara District Athletic Association),
Treasurer: PK Behera (State Bank Sports Club)
Council Members (9): Upendra Kumar Pattnaik (Ganjam District Athletic Association),
RN Padhi (Rourkela), Ashok Kumar Sahoo (Cuttack Basketball Association), Santosh Kumar Mohanty (Keonjhar District Basketball Association), Binod Kumar Sahoo (Trotters Club), Prasant Kumar Nayak (Odisha Police), Mahesh Kumar Sahoo (Samanta Chandra Sekhar Club), Satish Sahu (Celtics Club), Gautam Gajapati (Cuttack District Athletic Association).
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PHOTO: Office-bearers of Odisha Basketball Association pose after getting elected for the term 2021-25 in Cuttack on 4 April, 2021.