Masters feud set to drag on

There were happy and relieved faces at the Singapore Masters Athletics (SMA) annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday night, after an election of its leaders suggested that its recent woes were coming to an end.

But the five-month saga, which saw the SMA provisionally suspended by Singapore Athletics (SA) for what was deemed a violation of its tasks, appears to be far from over as SMA deputy president Samuel Veera Singaram called the AGM "invalid and unconstitutional".

Its president Glory Barnabas, who like Veera, did not attend the AGM, has also threatened to take the matter to the courts.

The infighting between the two camps then took another twist that same evening as SA announced that it would "take over Masters Athletics in Singapore".

The sport's local governing body clarified yesterday that this would involve taking over the management of masters athletes to handle registration for those who wish to compete in meets organised by the Asia Masters Athletics (AMA) and World Masters Athletics (WMA).

SA has received in principle approval from WMA and is awaiting ratification by the AMA.

SMA had previously overseen these matters and had been nominated by SA to be affiliated to the two organisations, said the latter.

In response, SMA honorary secretary Kannan Arumugam, who was re-elected to the post on Friday, said the takeover was a "good idea".

Asked if it acknowledged the SMA's new leadership, the SA said that SMA's new committee would need to show that proceedings and processes at the AGM were "proper and in accordance with their constitution" and urged SMA members to "iron out their internal matters".

Trouble in the fraternity erupted last August when several athletes wrote to SA expressing concerns over the way the Masters community was being managed. They were unhappy with the SMA's insistence on qualifying marks for competitions, selection criteria and minimum attendance at training sessions. This eventually led to SA's provisional suspension of the SMA.

The Masters association has over 200 members and boasts storied names such as sprint queen Barnabas and former SEA Games marathon champion K. Jayamani.

On Jan 6, Kannan called for an AGM to elect its office bearers for the next two years. He told The Sunday Times that the management committee decided to call for the election after Barnabas tendered her resignation on Dec 12.

On Friday, all 12 candidates were elected unopposed, with former vice-president (finance/administration) Foo Dun Heen taking over the presidency.

Foo, 80, said: "The problems of the last few months are over and we won't be looking back. Now, we just want to help those who want to represent Singapore in Masters competitions and do what we've been doing every year."

However, Veera told ST that Barnabas had retracted her resignation.

In a signed statement to SMA and SA affiliates on Jan 8, Barnabas said that she had not called for or approved the AGM, noting that Kannan had been suspended as honorary secretary and had no authority to handle club matters.

Stating that she was "made to sign under duress a letter of resignation prepared by Mr Kannan", Barnabas added: "Should any SMA member, committee member or invited member guest continue to attend this meeting not approved by me, I will take the necessary legal action to nullify his action and invalidate all AGM resolutions through the courts."

Kannan, 73, said: "We are sports-loving people and we will move on. We cannot stop them if they want to take legal action and we will let the judge decide."