LAUSANNE, Switzerland: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has declared it will write to the Committee of Administrators governing Hockey India, asking it to conduct elections and avoid “jeopardising” the men’s World Cup scheduled to be held in Odisha in January.
Interestingly, the major development was tucked away in an official press release of the proceedings of FIH’s executive board meeting on Friday that confirmed South Africa as host of the next FIH Hockey Indoor World Cup, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the record, the event will be held in Pretoria from February 5-11.
Coming back to the FIH EB. “FIH will send an official communication to the Committee of Administrators of Hockey India with a request to have elections for India’s hockey governing body held as soon as possible, in order not to jeopardise the upcoming FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup scheduled in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in January 2023,” it was stated on Saturday.
The world governing body’s next meeting of the executive board will be held on November 3 ahead of the FIH Congress that will be held virtually on November 4-5. Hockey
India’s situation is expected to be reviewed again in FIH’s next executive board meeting.
The Delhi High Court in May placed Hockey India under a three-member CoA after observing that the federation had violated the National Sports Code. The court ruling came on a petition filed by former India player Aslam Sher Khan, who had challenged Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra’s appointment as a life member of Hockey India.
The High Court held that HI’s appointment of Batra as its life member and Elena Norman as CEO were illegal, and thus the administrative set-up of the national federation was erroneous or illegal.
