Commonwealth Games : Martin elected first female president

Briton beat Malaysia’s Prince Tunku Imran for the federation’s top post.

AUCKLAND: British sports administrator Louise Martin was elected as the Commonwealth Games Federation’s first female president on Wednesday after promising to boost the commercial returns and attract top-class athletes back to the Commonwealth Games.

Martin beat the incumbent Prince Tunku Imran of Malaysia at the Commonwealth Games Federation general assembly in Auckland on Wednesday to head an organisation that has faced pressure to remain relevant in a crowded sporting market.

The Games have been scrutinised in recent years with cost over-runs and budget blowouts, which have put cities off from bidding for the four-early event.

Only two cities bid for the 2018 Games, which were awarded to Australia’s Gold Coast ahead of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota, while Durban was rubber-stamped as the only bidder for the 2022 Games.

Many top-class athletes have also skipped the Games, with track and field in particular shorn of several headline names who choose to run in lucrative meetings in Europe that clash with the multi-sport event in the calendar.

“I want to make sure the best athletes in the Commonwealth make the Games the cornerstone of their calendars and that the cities are queuing up to bid for,” she said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd,  2015.

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