On the Scene - Ricci Bitti Elected ASOIF President; Wu for IOC EB

(ATR) Boxing president C.K. Wu is the pick of ASOIF to sit on the IOC Executive Board.

The IOC member from Chinese Taipei was elected 20 votes to eight over cycling chief Pat McQuaid at the close of Tuesday's general assembly for the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations.

"The number of votes shows confidence from my colleagues," Wu told Around the Rings minutes after the ballot.

Leading up to the election, Wu had insisted that the winning candidate be the longest-serving IOC member, a sentiment he echoed after his victory.

"If the representative has a long history of service to the Olympic Movement, and the IOC in particular, he can more quickly integrate onto the EB," he told ATR.

McQuaid, 62, won election to the IOC in 2010. Wu, 65, has served since 1988.

Pending ratification by the IOC this July, he will replace retiring ASOIF president Denis Oswald on the EB.

Oswald's post atop ASOIF, however, will pass to sole presidential candidate Francesco Ricci Bitti, who was confirmed by separate ballot minutes before Wu.

IOC age limits prevent the 70-year-old head of the International Tennis Federation from also taking over Oswald's seat on the EB.

Asked by Around the Rings what the first item on his agenda as ASOIF president will be, Ricci Bitti stressed that he won't actually assume any duties until Oswald leaves office at year's end.

"With great honor comes great responsibility," he added about Tuesday's importance to the stature of tennis within the Olympic Movement.

"In a short time since our reinstatement [ahead of the Seoul 1988 Summer Games], tennis has come a long way and has worked very hard to get the Olympic tennis tournament on the calendar."

Prior to the EB vote, Oswald insisted each candidate accept the criteria that his tenure on the EB, if elected, would necessarily be tied to Ricci Bitti's presidency of ASOIF, whether that be four years, eight years or more.

According to said mandate, ASOIF could face this same situation again in four years if Ricci Bitti proves a one-term president and his successor is not an IOC member.

The "ideal" situation, according to Oswald, would be to have the ASOIF president and ASOIF representative to the IOC Executive Board be one and the same, unlike Tuesday's two-vote affair.

Written by Matthew Grayson.

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