ANOCA Elects Palenfo After Barring Challenger

(ATR) Lassana Palenfo was unanimously elected president of the Association of African National Olympic Committees today.

Palenfo, who said four years ago he would not run for reelection, was the only candidate allowed to stand for election at the 2017 General Assembly in Djibouti. Hamad Kalkaba, from Cameroon, put forth his candidacy to challenge Palenfo for the presidency, but was barred from running by the ANOCA Executive Committee. Palenfo has been in charge of ANOCA since 2005.

Kalkaba said to Around the Ringsyesterday that he would be appealing the decision to bar him to the IOC Ethics Commission and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He says the executive committee decision came from a "cabal" inside ANOCA usingillegally obtained documents.

Neither Palenfo nor Kalkaba responded to repeated requests for comment today.

An IOC spokesperson told ATR that the barring of Kalkaba from running was an "internal matter" for ANOCA, and declined to say if the Ethics Commission had been contacted.

The 2017 election was supposed to mark the end of a four year modernization effort by ANOCA. The body passed a new constitution at the 2016 Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly in Doha paving the way for new elections.

Bach Addresses ANOCA

IOC President Thomas Bach opened the 2017 ANOCA General Assembly hoping to see continued African success at the Olympic Games.

"We are here to celebrate success but not to be complacent," Bach said of the record 45 medals won by African countries at Rio 2016, according to an IOC release.

Bach also spoke about the need for good governance according to the IOC. There was no mention about the desire for an African Olympic bid, which was the main focus of his 2015 ANOCA speech. Following the assembly, Bach met with the President of Djibouti and "discussed the important work Djibouti is doing to help refugees in the country and agreed to a close cooperation."

Afterwards Bach travelled to Mozambique where he is set to meet both the outgoing and incoming NOC presidents, Marcelino Macome and Aníbal Manave respectively, according to local reports.

Written by Aaron Bauer

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.