Sports Ministry suspends Badminton Association over failure to hold elections

Maldives' Sports Ministry has suspended Badminton Association of Maldives until the association brings necessary changes to its constitution and elects a new executive committee.

The term of its current executive committee expired on March 11, 2024. However, no elections were held to elect new committee members, and the constitution also remained unamended.

In an announcement gazetted by the ministry today, it said the decision to suspend the association was made in line with the sports council's recommendation.

With this decision, the no communication would be allowed in the association's name, and any such communication would be considered invalid, the announcement said.

“However, there will be no objection for Maldivian badminton players and officials to represent the country and the association within Maldives and abroad,” the announcement said.

The ministry said the decision was the result of a lack of cooperation from the association despite multiple attempts to resolve internal issues within the association and elect its executive committee. The association's actions also caused irreparable damage to its members, officials and especially the players, the ministry said, highlighting this as another reason for the decision.

The ministry also decided to form a three-member ad-hoc committee under the supervision of the Olympics Committee to make necessary changes to the association's constitution and elect its executive committee.

The committee would complete its work within 45 days from the date of its formation and hand over the association to the newly elected executive committee, the ministry said.

According to local media reports, the association also attempted to defy Sports Commissioner Mohamed Tholal's instructions to amend its constitution before holding the elections.

This instruction followed many complaints against the association, especially about allocating more than 100 votes to badminton development centres (BDCs) not registered under the commission.

The association's former president Moosa Nashid was also accused of corruption at the time, resulting in the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) to raid a sports shop and several other properties related to him.

While the term had ended without an election, Moosa resigned from his post in July last year. However, it is alleged that his still had influence and control over the association even after that.