NEW DELHI: Ice Hockey Association of India held its annual general assembly and elections for the new executive council here.
IHAI, the governing body of ice hockey in India, is a member of the Indian Olympic Association and International Ice Hockey Federation.
Elections were conducted as per the guidelines of IOA and National Sports Code of the Ministry of Sports in the presence of an IOA observer.
The newly elected council comprises Dr SM Bali as President, who is also the current joint secretary of IOA.
Harjinder Singh was re-elected as the general secretary for another term. He was also the chef de mission of the Indian contingent at XXIII Winter Olympics at PyeongChang, Korea in February.
NA Gyapo from Leh was elected vice president elected. Gyapo has been at the helm of the nursery of ice hockey in Leh-Ladakh since the inception of the sport in India.
Rajat Malhotra, an ex Indian player from Simla, was elected as joint secretary. Maj KJS Gurna (retd) is the new treasurer. The four members of the executive council are Gurpreet Singh Bakshi and 3 players – Tundup Namgail (ex Indian Men’s Team captain ), Amit Belwal and women representative Noor Jahan.
The nine-member EC has 4 athletes on the council.
“The Indian men’s team secured 2nd position in the Challenge Cup of Asia in Kuwait, in 2017. The same year, the Indian Women’s team, which debuted internationally in 2016, won its first international match in 2017 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia in Thailand to secure 4th place amongst 7 participants,” highlighted Singh, in his secretary report. He further emphasized that with financial support and infrastructural support, India could be in reckoning for a place in World Championship program of IIHF in the coming years.
Bali, the newly elected president, said: “All efforts would be made to get the only international ice rink at Dehradun opened, which would help the Indian ice hockey team to train in the country, instead of going abroad for training.”
He further stated that efforts would be made to get financial support from the corporate sector as well.
