Kalmadi loses IAAF Council membership

Scam-tainted Suresh Kalmadi's association with any sports body has ended as he lost the membership of the powerful Council of the International Association of Athletics Federation.

Kalmadi lost the IAAF Council membership after his defeat in the Asian Athletics Association's presidential election in Pune early last month to Qatar's Dahlan Al-Hamad.

The IAAF appointed Du Zhaocai, senior vice-president of the AAA and general secretary of Chinese Athletics Association (CAA), to its Council as one of Asia's representatives.

The website of the world athletics body no longer has the name of Kalmadi as member of its Council and Zhaocai's name has replaced that of the Indian.

Asia now has two members in the IAAF Council in Zhaocai and Al-Hamad, who is also one of the four vice-presidents of the world body.

The replacement of Kalmadi by Zhaocai took place just a few days before the IAAF Congress (August 7-8) to be held in Moscow ahead of the World Championships in the Russian capital from August 10 to 18.

The 69-year-old controversial Indian, currently on bail after spending 10 months in jail for his alleged involvement in the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam, had sat on the IAAF Council since 2001.

Since his name was linked with the CWG scam, Kalmadi has lost a number of key roles, including that of the head of the Indian Olympic Association, which he had led since 1996 until he was forced out in 2011.