The new ASOIF Council poses following the election ©ASOIF

Patrick Baumann, Leandro Negre and José Perurena were elected to the three available positions on the ruling council of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) today, with the latter being selected in the most farcical of circumstances.

Incumbent candidate Baumann, secretary general of the International Basketball Federation, was chosen in the first round after being nominated by 27 member federations, while Spain's International Hockey Federation President Leandro Negre followed suit with 20 votes.

After fifth placed Marisol Casado, President of the International Triathlon Union, who was seeking a second term, was eliminated with just 11 votes a second round was undertaken between Perurena and Chungwon Choue, respective heads of the International Canoe Federation and World Taekwondo Federation.

In an arduous process in which each member had to vote manually, the pair received 14 votes each.

The result was identical after a third round and the decision was made to resort to a coin toss.

Perurena, somewhat sheepishly, raised his hand in the air when the result was declared after benefitting from a system that is used on an occasional basis to decide sporting results, but has rarely been seen before in sports administration.

The vote for the council positions came at the end of a long day of General Assembly business ©ASOIF
The vote for the council positions came at the end of a long day of General Assembly business ©ASOIF

Baumann, Negre and Perurena will join International Boxing Association President C K Wu and World Archery boss Uğur Erdener on the panel, along with President Francesco Ricci Bitti and executive director Andrew Ryan.

Hassan Mostafa, the vice-president and President of the International Handball Federation, had to step down because he had served the maximum two terms. 

A new vice-president will now be chosen from the Council members. 

Casado was upset by her defeat. 

She claimed, that for a woman in a sports leadership position, it is "very difficult to arrive and even more difficult to maintain a position".

Ricci Bitti, however, did subsequently promise she would remain closely involved in ASOIF business.

This drama came at the end of a long day of meetings here at the body's annual General Assembly, which also included presentations by Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 , the World Anti Doping Agency, and by Olympic Broadcasting Services chief executive Yiannis Exarchos about the new Olympic TV channel.



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