New president of Georgian Rugby Union elected

The Georgian Rugby Union has a new president – Gocha Svanidze.

Svanidze, a veteran rugby player and current chairman of the Rugby Union Board, will hold the post for the next four years.

The elections at the Rugby Union took place today.

Svanidze and former Georgian national team captain Ilia Zedginidze were the only two candidates running in the election.

The winning candidate received 35 votes, while Zedgenidze received 32.

"It was a tough elections and the Rugby Union had to make a very tough decision,” Svaindze said after the elections.

He praised his opponent as a "strong candidate and good man” and offered him the option to collaborate to further develop Georgian rugby.

During his rugby career from 1981 to 1994 Sanidze played at different Georgian clubs.

Meanwhile outgoing president of the Georgian Rugby Union Giorgi Nizharadze, who held the post for the past eight years, was earlier selected to serve as a member of a new disciplinary commission of the world rugby governing body.

Nizharadze will work in the six-person World Rugby Commission alongside famous former players and current heads of national rugby federations.