Khalid Al Zubair unopposed for Oman Olympic Committee’s top post

Sports Wednesday 21/December/2016 22:46 PM
By: Times News Service
Khalid Al Zubair unopposed for Oman Olympic Committee’s top post

Muscat: The contribution of the current board members of the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) under the chairmanship Sheikh Khalid Al Zubair seems to be recognised by various sports associations as none of them nominated their candidates to challenge the incumbents in the forthcoming elections for the 2016-20 term.
The filing of nominations for OOC board elections, which are scheduled for January 31, closed on Wednesday with just one candidate -- in the form of Oman Handball Association chief Dr. Said Ahmed Al Shahri -- coming forward with his application that too for the ordinary membership of the board.
That leaves Sheikh Khalid Al Zubair, the first democratically elected chairman of the Sultanate’s Olympic body, unchallenged for the top post and the experienced sports administrator, who also served as the chairman of the Oman Tennis Association in the past, will continue in the job for another four years.
Along with Sheikh Khalid Al Zubair, current vice-chairman Sheikh Saif bin Hilal Al Hosni and present secretary-general Taha Al Kishry had already filed their nominations and they are also set to continue in the same post for another four years.
Interestingly, Khalid Al Aadi, the present chief of Oman Tennis Association, also emerged as the lone candidate for the post of treasurer.
Confirming that the top posts will be filled by unanimous decision, Taha Al Kishry said: “There are no challengers for the four key posts. The only contest will be for the memberships of the board.”
Speaking to Times Sport after the closing of nominations on Wednesday, Taha said: “Dr. Said Ahmed Al Shahri has filed his nomination papers on Tuesday. He will be contesting to become a board member.”
Now four candidates will be contesting for the three available places among the five members on the board. Sheikh Badr bin Ali Al Rawas, chairman of Oman Volleyball Association, and Mohsin Al Masroori, first vice-chairman of Oman Football Association, are also in the fray.
As per the OOC statutes, two of the five members will be nominated by Women’s Sports Committee and the Athletes Committee with one member coming from each panel.
Taha, meanwhile, attributed the decision of the associations not to put up candidates for the top posts to their trust in the current board members.
“It shows that they trust us. They believe in the good work we have been doing as a team,” he said.
“It also indicates to the co-operation and understanding we so far had with the associations in getting good results, not just on the field but in various aspects of the development of sports.
“We have worked sincerely for the growth of Oman sports, with our efforts we saw the doors were open for our associations at the international level and more importantly we helped in bringing the private sector support for the sports bodies and our athletes,” he said.