Egyptian Dr Osama Said has been elected unopposed as the incoming president of the World Kabaddi. Dr Osama replaces outgoing president Ashok Das of England.
The ceremonial transition of the presidency will take place during the Kabaddi World Cup in England.
Both the secretary general and treasurer positions were also filled unopposed during the General Body Meeting held earlier today.
Incumbent Secretary General S.T. Arasu of Malaysia was also reelected unopposed for a new four-year term of the governing body for the sports, which controls more than 50 member national affiliates around the globe.
Hong Kong’s Dr Wyman Tang will be the new Treasurer, replacing Triana Alonso of Mexico.
Dr Osama is expected to draw up his plans for the body for the next four years with the incoming Central Board members.
Dr Osama is also the current president of the Egyptian Kabaddi Association as well as Kabaddi Africa. Before he ventured into kabaddi, Dr Osama was involved in wrestling and served as the head coach of the Egyptian wrestling team to the Olympics.
Arasu, who has held the secretary’s position since the inception of World Kabaddi, is also the deputy president of the Malaysia Kabaddi Federation (MKF). The former two-time Malaysian Sportswriter of the Year award winner is a sports event management specialist and was a consultant to the 2023 South East Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia.
As for Dr Wyman, he holds a PhD in anthropology and is currently a senior lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also the president of the Hong Kong Kabaddi Sports United as well as the vice-president of Kabaddi Asia.
The five presidents are not elected but appointed by virtue of their position as president of their respective continental bodies. The vice presidents are Ashok Das (England- Europe), Jagjit Singh Gurm (Oceania-Australia), Ratnagar Singh Dhillon (Pan America-USA) and Sheikh A Rahman Mubarak A H Al-Thani (Asia – Qatar).
With Dr Osama’s elevation as World Kabaddi president, the vice president of from Africa nominated is Tanzania’s Abdallah Mustafa Athumani Nyoni.
The elections also saw new members to Central Board being elected.
Kenya’s Perpetual Mbutu Muthoni was one of the three members to be re-elected with all others being newcomers.
Perpetual will be the women’s Central Board member representing Africa while Tunisia’s Aref Brini is the other Board member from Africa.
Scotland’s Prem Singh, who is the president of Scotland Kabaddi Association and also the CEO of the Kabaddi World Cup 2025, is the other re-elected Board member from Europe. As there were no nominees for the women’s Board member position from Europe, the vacancy will be filled later.
Similarly, New Zealand Kabaddi president Tara Singh was re-elected to the Board from Oceania with the women’s position to be filled later.
As for the Pan America representatives, Argentina’s Gabriel Sacchi and American Viral Trivedi have been elected for the first time to the Central Board.
From Asia, Malaysia Kabaddi Federation president Paul Selvam Devadoss will be joined by Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wen, India’s Danvir Singh and Singapore’s Maran Chakrapani in the Board. The female representative from Asia will be appointed later.
Dr Osama in his address said that World Kabaddi is looking forward to create a new chapter for the sport.
“We want to strengthen our membership and spread the sport to more countries around the globe. We also want to strengthen our events calendar and empower our members to do more for the sport in each country,” said Dr Osama.
WORLD KABADDI CENTRAL BOARD 2025-2029
President: Dr Osama Said (Egy)
Vice Presidents: Ashok Das (England- Europe), Jagjit Singh Gurm (Oceania-Australia), Ratnagar Singh Dhillon (Pan America-USA), Sheikh A Rahman Mubarak A H Al-Thani (Asia – Qatar), Abdallah Mustafa Athumani Nyoni (Africa – Tanzania)
Secretary General: S.T. Arasu (Malaysia)
Treasurer: Wyman Tang (Hong Kong, China)
Council Members: Perpetual Mbutu Muthoni (Kenya), Aref Brini (Tunisia), Viral Trivedi (USA), Gabriel Sachhi (Argentina), Tara Singh (New Zealand), Prem Singh (Scotland), Dr Paul Selvam Devadoss (Malaysia), Danveer Singh (India), Wang Tzu Jen (Chinese Taipei), Maran Chakrapani (Singapore)