Three months after its formation, the body will get into action and discuss issues that plague hockey

By Sandeep Narayan in New Delhi

THREE months have passed since the IOA took over the reins from the Indian Hockey Federation ( IHF). Unfortunately in that period, the only major decision the IOA administrators have taken is the formation of an IHF ad hoc and selection committee.

Barring that, the new caretakers of the sport have mostly been sticking to an itinerary left by their ‘ predecessors’. In between, they had to brave through various roadblocks as well — the biggest one being interferences from former IHF chief KPS Gill. Their sloppiness also resulted in Australian expert Ric Charlesworth submitting his resignation.

In retrospect, it would seem that the shifting of powers from the IHF to IOA has done nothing to improve the condition of hockey in India.

However, all that is set to change on Thursday as the IHF ad hoc committee will host a series of meetings with various stakeholders of the sport on how to improve hockey and is also expected to pick a panel of ten coaches, including six for the senior team.

Since their tour to Australia, the senior team players have not attended any camps or gone for any foreign exposure trips and this issue will also be discussed in the meeting.

In this meeting, they will also discuss topics ranging from the selection of the new senior men’s coach to the revival of the senior nationals which was last hosted in 2006 in Punjab.

They will also broach on topics such as whether to continue with the Premier Hockey League ( PHL) and also the ways of improving and refurbishing it in a more commercially lucrative manner.

“ This is the first in a series of meetings, namely, with the state hockey associations ( in end- August), with the media and sports administrators for the improvement of the standard of the game and related issues,” said ad hoc committee convener Mohammad Aslam Khan.

However, the biggest issue on their agenda would be the shortlisting of names for the post of the national men’s senior coach. “ We will meet Olympians and technical experts of the game to bring out a roadmap for Indian hockey. In that very meeting, we will finalise the probables for the national team’s coach and then send the list to the Ministry,” Aslam Khan added.

Though the decision on the coach will not be made on Thursday, it is heartening to see that the ad hoc committee is finally prepared to lay a road map for Indian hockey.