President of Bangladesh Sports Press Association (BSPA), Sanat Babla, was elected into the Executive Committee of the Asian Sports Journalists Federation (AIPS) following a continental meeting of the federation in Rome on Tuesday.
Previously, former President of BSPA Rakibul Hasan and lifetime member Ikramuzzaman represented Bangladesh in the AIPS.
South Korea's Hee Don Jung was elected as the President and Pakistan’s Amjad Aziz Malik was announced as the unopposed Secretary General of AIPS. Amjad Aziz Malik is the first Asian journalist elected for the third consecutive term.
The elections were held in Rome, Italy. 23 out of 30 Asian countries participated in the elections.
Candidates from 15 countries had submitted nominations for eight seats in the Executive Committee, but after seven countries withdrew their papers, the officials who were declared elected include Hiroki Shoda of Japan, Sanat Babla of Bangladesh, Safwan Abu Shanab of Palestine, Oman's Ahmed Saif Al Kaabi, Macau's Nim Seong Fong, China’s Taipei's Helen Chi, Yemen's Abdulsalam Hamoud Ali Saud and Kazakhstan's Ilyas Omarov.
“It was hard but finally Bangladesh has made a position in AIPS Asia Exco. All the guys from different countries have given support to me for the activities of Bangladesh Sports Press Association. So it made my task easy to get elected as an EC member of the AIPS Asia EXCO,” Babla posted on Facebook.