DATUK S. Shamala may not be popular on social media, but she is well-received in the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC).
She is so popular that no one wants to stand against her in the elections on Nov 16.
Shamala retained her deputy president’s post when her sole challenger, K. Maheswari, sent a letter on Sunday to officially withdraw her nomination for the MHC elections.
Shamala earlier became the target of netizens when she made a U-turn on her announcement that she would not seek re-election if the national team failed to qualify (and they did fail) for the Tokyo Olympics.
Four other nominees have also officially withdrawn from the MHC vice-presidents’ race.
They are Datuk Manjit Majid Abdullah, Datuk Ow Soon Kooi, Lum Sau Foong and Datuk Che Khalib Noh.
This brought an end to the challenge from six candidates, including S. Sathis Kumar.
So, with the president's post earlier secured by incumbent Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal and now the deputy president’s post (women) retained by Shamala, the contest for the men’s deputy president's post will be the only major one at the elections.
This will see MHC Legal chairman Jadadish Chandra up against Kuala Lumpur Hockey Association (KLHA) president Datuk Seri Megat D. Shahriman
The 16 affiliates of MHC, 14 states and two from Armed Forces and Police, will each have two votes to pick their candidates.
“I have sent the official withdrawal form to MHC and the rest of us who had pledged to pull out during a recent press conference have also done so,” said Manjit.
Manjit, a long serving MHC veep, however will still be involved with hockey as he is the deputy-president of Johor HA and vice-president of the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF).
Even with the latest developments, there might one last twist before the delegates go to ballot.
Megat, the newly-elected Kuala Lumpur HA president, has found himself entangled in a constitutional issue.
This is because under the KLHA constitution, all principal office bearers of the elected council of lKuala Lumpur HA shall not concurrently hold any position as principal office bearer in Malaysian Hockey Federation (now Confederation) council.'
Now Megat has an option to either not stand for election and concentrate on KLHA alone, or battle Jadadish and if he wins, he can relinquish his KLHA post.