Shaikha Hayat keeps BOC post

Manama : National Sports Federation’s General Assembly made their mark and selected a new board of directors of the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) for the 2017/2020 term on Tuesday.

In a highly-awaited 37th General Assembly and election of the BOC at the Swiss Belhotel in Seef, six new faces joined the board, while three were re-elected as per votes taken by representatives of 28 sports federations for the candidates.

Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Shaikha Hayat Al Khalifa and Ali Isa Eshaqi all retained their seats at the board for another four-year period.

Shaikha Hayat, the Bahrain Table Tennis Association president, led the candidates at the elections and received all 28 votes. Bahrain Handball Association president Eshaqi also succeeded in keeping his post for a second consecutive term winning 23 votes.

Bahrain Mixed Martial Arts chief Khalid Al Khayat has also won the trust of the majority of the voters with 27 votes to claim his first-ever seat at the committee.

Bahrain Shooting Association vice-president Shaikh Hamad bin Rashid Al Khalifa (26 votes), Bahrain Swimming Association president Shaikh Mohammed bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (23) and Bahrain Athletics Association assistant general secretary Bader Nasser (20 each) were the other new faces joining the board.

Bahrain Gymnastics Association president Abdulla Al Dossary, who was a board member in the past, has returned to the committee for the next electoral cycle.

The remaining four who received an insufficient number of votes were Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa (cycling), Shaikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa (tennis), Saleh Faraj (fencing) and Adel Al Fayyad (golf).

An additional seat for non-Olympic sports federations was won by Bahrain Motor Federation general secretary Rashid Al Zayani, who took 18 votes against two contenders – Bahrain Sport for All Federation president Isa Abdulrahim (6) and Bahrain Bowling Association president Ahmed Al Nuaimi (4).

Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has secured the dedicated VIP seat, while swimmer Omar Al Malki also joined the board after being elected as chairman of the BOC’s Athletes Commission.

Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa was declared the winner of the presidential election last May unopposed with no other candidate presenting themselves by the voting deadline..

The day’s programme started with presentations of the administrative report for the 2015/16 period, in addition to the financial report for the year 2016. The committee’s suggest budget for 2017 was also approved, as well as the previous General Assembly report on May 20, 2015.

Late on, a purpose-formed committee tasked at running the election, composed of BOC general secretary Abdulrahman Askar, Sports Affairs executive director Abduljalil Asad and legal consultant Salah Khedr, in addition to three members from the General Assembly – Mohammed Al Thawadi, Hameed Rahma and Sultan Al Ghanem.