The President of the Maldives Olympic Committee, Mohamed Abdulsattar (Champy), has called for prioritizing transparent and accountable methods in running associations. After being re-elected for another term following yesterday’s election to form the new executive committee of MOC at H. Meeruma, Sattar, addressing the heads of associations, said that all the sadness from an association’s operations coming to a halt, being normalized or suspended, would be felt by Maldivian sports and the athletes who play that sport.
Sattar said he was concerned that some unwanted issues have arisen for the parent associations of football, one of the most popular sports in the Maldives, and badminton, the sport that has won the most medals for the Maldives in recent history. Noting that the Football Association has been normalized by FIFA and the Badminton Association has been suspended by the World Badminton Federation (BWF), the MOC President said that sports associations reach this state when they neglect some important aspects of strengthening governance. “For example, if priority is not given to matters such as conducting financial affairs transparently, maintaining financial records in the most complete manner, and auditing,” Sattar said.
Sattar said that not arranging for associations’ bylaws to be robust, accountable, and structured in the most beneficial way for that sport has negative effects on the associations. He said that if anyone’s personal interest is prioritized in sports, the likelihood of undesirable results outweighs the desired outcomes. Sattar also appealed to those running sports associations to be mindful of these issues and not do anything that could harm the sport. Therefore, the MOC President said that everyone should prioritize national interest, the sport they represent, and the interests of those involved in that sport.
