In a major move, and also to stabilize hockey affairs, ad-hoc committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi today annuonced series of steps in a press meet today in New Delhi.

It appears hockey has really taken off, and with the formalization of a few important committees, things look bright as of now.

Former Olympian and commetator Jagbir Singh has been named Director (Planning), his teammate Pargat Sigh Director (Projects) and commentator Anupam Gulati as Communication Director.

Former international player and coach Harendera Singh has been put in charge of senior team coaching, though it is said a foreign coach might head the coaching team in the ner future.

With former stars Jagbir and Pargat in the organizatinal set up, one can expect hockey affairs in the country to get the impetus overdue. The duo have been vocal in their views, and is expected to deliver with new responsibilities. In fact, these two now represents the GenNExt face of former hockey players community. If they deliver — there is no doubt why they cannot — that will do a lot to improve the image of former players.

Another youngster Rajeev Mehta of Uttarkhand is drafted in as co-convenor of the Ad-hoc Committee. He is also young in his 30s.

Ghulati is a veteran hockey observer, informative, up to date with global hockey developments.

Kalamadi also announced an advisory panel which includes who is who of State Hockey Associations (SHA). Though the panel’s exact role is not defined, and how frequently they will meet or advise, the move is an attempt to improve the relationship with the stakeholders, the SHAs.

The Advisory panel, in particular, includes JB Roy, president of the Bengal Hockey Association, Secretaries of powerful state associations such as Karnataka (Krishnamurthy), Mumbai (Kehar Singh), President of Chandigarh SHA(Chandrasekar) and JK SHA (NK Batra) among others.

For long, there has been a genuine feeling the SHAs were not involved in the governance of hockey. This shortfall has now been addressed to some extent.

Most of the personalities assigned specific jobs today are already functioning within the adhoc committee. Today’s announcments ensure their role is constitutional.

Long after coming into power, the ad-hoc committee made some genuine progress today. Now it is upto those who are entrusted the jobs to do justice to their posts.

s2h wishes these teams a success