Usha, Gopichand in IOA's new advisory panel

The newly-elected executive council of the Indian Olympic Association constituted a three-member advisory panel, on Thursday, which will guide the office-bearers on problems faced by athletes.

It also formed a nine-member Athletes' Commission.

The three-member advisory panel includes P T Usha, P Gopichand and Dilip Tirkey.

The general body also discussed the International Olympic Council's statement that the elections are null and void and clarified that the polls took place with a well laid-out procedure.

"The elections were conducted under the guidance of a three-member Election Commission, comprising Retired Chief Justice Anil Dev Singh, Justice V K Bali and Justice J D Kappor, and even the Union Government had sent its observer Joy Sebastian to oversee the election process," the IOA said in a statement.

"Even the members of the media were present at the venue in large numbers and it only proves that the elections were held in free and fair manner and also with the approval of all the stakeholders party to the Indian Olympic Association in India," it added.

Abhay Singh Chautala took over as president of the IOA on Wednesday while the tainted Lalit Bhanot became the secretary-general after the sports body conducted its controversial elections, defying the IOC's directive not to go ahead with the polls.

Chautala and Bhanot were declared elected unopposed.

The Athletes' commission:

Chairman: Gurbachan Singh Randhawa – Athletics

Members: Wilson Cherian (swimming), K Malleswari (weightlifting), Manjit Dua (table tennis), Jatinder Singh (boxing), Aparna Popat (badminton), Anuj Kumar (wrestling).

Lawn tennis and archery will nominate their members soon.