PV Sindhu appointed chair of IOA Athletes' Commission; Harmanpreet Singh named vice-chair
PV Sindhu has been appointed chairperson of the Indian Olympic Association's Athletes' Commission and Harmanpreet Singh vice-chairperson, the IOA confirmed on Friday, November 6, 2026. The appointments were part of the IOA's process for filling the Athletes' Commission leadership and were declared unopposed.
Mirabai Chanu and Sajan Prakash were elected as the Athletes' Commission's two representatives to the IOA General Body, and all four appointments were confirmed without contest after they emerged as sole candidates for their respective posts. Returning Officer Sanjay K Srivastava declared them elected, making the polls that had been scheduled for Saturday, November 7 unnecessary. Sindhu and Harmanpreet were the only candidates to file nominations for the chairperson and vice-chairperson positions; both are described in the IOA notices as two-time Olympic medallists.
Under IOA rules the chairperson and vice-chairperson must be one female and one male athlete, and both Sindhu and Harmanpreet will become members of the IOA Executive Council once it is constituted after the national body's elections on December 5. Their terms, along with those of Chanu and Sajan, will run for four years from 2026 to 2030. The four athletes' inclusion in the Executive Council membership follows the completion of the current Athletes' Commission selection process.
Chanu and Sajan were elected unopposed to serve as the Athletes' Commission's representatives to the IOA General Assembly; those two positions are reserved for one male and one female athlete and both nominee slots had no opposition. The appointments make Chanu and Sajan eligible to vote in the IOA elections scheduled for December 5. Their selection to the General Assembly role was confirmed by the Returning Officer's administrative decision rather than by a contested ballot.
In a notice issued on Friday, Returning Officer Srivastava confirmed that Sindhu and Harmanpreet had been elected without polling and that Chanu and Sajan would become representatives to the General Assembly without having to participate in the voting process. "The election of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson of IOA Executive Council and two Representatives of the Athletes' Commission to the IOA General Assembly, one male and one female, as scheduled on 7th November 2026, will not serve any purpose as there is only one candidate against one post in each category," the notice stated. The notice formalised the cancellation of the scheduled polls because each post had a single nominee.
The candidates for the chairperson and vice-chairperson positions were required to come from the six-member Olympic category of the Athletes' Commission, comprising sportspersons who have participated in at least one of the last three editions of the Olympic Games. The latest appointments follow the November 3 election of 10 sportspersons as members of the IOA Athletes' Commission. Sindhu, Harmanpreet, Chanu and Sajan were among those declared elected unopposed after former track and field athlete Sudha Singh withdrew from the contest; with 10 candidates remaining for 10 available positions, including five reserved for male athletes and five for female athletes, the Returning Officer declared all of them elected without a vote.
The other members of the Athletes' Commission named on November 3 include Indian women's hockey captain Salima Tete, shooter Swapnil Kusale, fencer Bhavani Devi, shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, former archer Bombayla Devi and kayaker Manjeet Singh. Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan and shooter Rajeshwari Kumari, who are members of the Olympic Council of Asia's Athletes' Commission, will serve as ex-officio members of the IOA panel. For Sindhu, Chanu and Bhavani Devi the appointments continue their involvement in athlete representation, as all three were part of the previous IOA Athletes' Commission that was headed by MC Mary Kom.
The new commission will serve as the athletes' representative body within the IOA's administrative framework, with its leadership now in place ahead of the IOA elections on December 5 when the Executive Council will be constituted.
