NEW DELHI: In a first-of-its-kind Special Congress held via video conference on Wednesday, Hockey India engaged it’s executive board members and state member units in valuable discussions to pave the way forward and re-start the sport at state and national level following the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
The Congress was also joined by special invitee Indian Olympic Association & International Hockey Federation president Narinder Batra.
As a first step towards resuming activities depending on permissions provided by government of India and state governments, Hockey India has issued a 20-page dossier to it’s member units which provides a minimum standard that needs to be followed when hockey activities resume in their respective states. The new Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) includes educating the athletes, sanitising the entire facility prior to any event as well as encouraging all participants to share their details not just with organisers but also with health authorities. The guidelines also include pre-event, during-event and post-event protocols to follow. It also covers important procedures to follow when teams have to travel for domestic competition.
Additionally, foreseeing the new social norms that could last upto 12-18 months, Hockey India proposed to update the Constitution with a provision to allow video conference meetings as official meetings with minutes to be signed by the chairman of the meeting.
Host venues for HI National Championships:
It was formally announced that Hockey Maharashtra will host the 11th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2021, while Uttar Pradesh Hockey will host 11th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2021. The 11th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship 2021 and the 11th Hockey India Sub Junior Men National Championship 2021 will be hosted by Hockey Haryana while the 11th Hockey India Junior Women National Championship 2021 and 11th Hockey India Sub Junior Women National Championship 2021 will be hosted by Hockey Jharkhand.
Coaches and tournament officials to register on MU Portal from 1 July:
The Special Congress also saw detailed discussion on registration process for tournament officials and coaches on the Hockey India member unit portal.
Phase 2 of registrations on the Member Unit portal will commence from 1 July, which will allow registration of coaches and tournament officials once list of member units is updated on the portal.
Mission 2021 for Indian Hockey Teams:
While Hockey India High Performance director David John highlighted the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on preparations for the Tokyo Olympics Games and expressed that a detailed SOP has been submitted to SAI in April for all national athletes, a calendar of matches and tournaments has been planned for all four teams (senior and junior) for 2021.
Currently, the senior men’s team have 10 FIH Hockey Pro League matches to be played to fulfil their commitments from the 2020 season. Apart from two matches versus New Zealand in India, the remaining 8 matches are scheduled to be played in Germany, Great Britain, Argentina and Spain.
The Indian women’s team will need to finalise overseas tours to countries that that have relaxed their travel restrictions and provide a high level of competition such as Netherlands, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. It would be ideal for the team to play around 10-14 competitive matches against above opposition prior to Tokyo Olympic Games
Depending on the situation, the Indian men and women’s teams will play the Asian Champions Trophy organised by the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) prior to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 that will provide exposure. The national camps and international exposures for the senior men and senior women teams has been scheduled according to FIH calendar and will be submitted in the ACTC for 2020/21 once FIH and AHF finalise their dates.
The Special Congress also saw detailed discussions on the below agenda:
Status and conduct of Hockey India National Championships 2020
Hockey India National Championships 2021; New structure of the tournaments and host venues were finalised
Activities undertaken during Covid-19 situation
State Championship plan of State Member Units with maximum districts participation in their respective states
Submission of pending reports of State Championships
Registration process for tournament officials/ Coaches on the Hockey India Member Unit Portal to begin from 1 July 2020
Discussion on continued process of online player registration on India Member Unit Portal during lockdown
Feedback on IOA survey on resumption of sport in India in Covid-19 scenario.
Consideration and adoption of CEO’s Annual report
Approval of proposed amendments in the Hockey India Constitution (dated 30 November 2019)
