Hockey India constituted by under-fire IOA

AGE CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi

June 3: The Indian Olympic Association finally heeded the International Hockey Federation’s warning, announcing the formation of Hockey India — the unified body for men’s and women’s hockey in India. More than a year after the Indian Hockey Federation was suspended, IOA president Suresh Kalmadi announced on Wednesday that IHF and IWHF stood dissolved and reconstituted as a unified body to be headed by A.K. Mattoo.

The FIH had expressed concern about the existence of two hockey federations in India and set a 15-day deadline in a letter dated May 5, 2009, to act or else not only lose the hosting rights of next year’s World Cup but also their participation rights in FIH events.

“I am very happy to inform you that Hockey India has been formed. The nine-member committee appointed by IOA met five times and discussed the issue and finally formed Hockey India,” Kalmadi told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.

“The Government of India and FIH has been apprised of the development. FIH gave its approval and will communicate it in writing in a couple of days,” he added.

The governing council of Hockey India consists of seven members with former Indian Boxing Federation chief A.K. Mattoo as president, Vidya Stokes as senior vice president, Mohammad Aslam Khan as secretary general, Narendra Batra as treasurer and Harish Sharma, Rajeev Mehta and Mushtaq Ahmed as members. “The committee will assess and work with all the states units. They will look to form a single unit at the state level as well and then conduct elections within six months. An FIH observer will be present there as well,” Kalmadi said.

The IOA had formed a nine-member committee under the chairmanship of IOA joint secretary Harish Sharma and gave full general body powers to it to take decisions on hockey matters.

Asked about the appointment of Mattoo as the acting president of Hockey India, Kalmadi said, “Be sure Mattoo will not run for the president’s post. We brought him temporarily keeping in mind his vast managerial experience.”

Meanwhile, Mattoo clarified that he was not looking for any positions with Hockey India. “I am not looking for any positions. My job is to bring all the state units together. If at least 10 units come together, we can hold elections in six months time,” he said.

Mattoo has a lot on his plate on as the president of Hockey India. His first concern will be to decide whether the body wants to continue with the current selection panel. “We have been informed about the formation of Hockey India today. I’ll take some time to discuss the matter with my other committe members. In my opinion, we’ll definitely need a seperate selection panel for the men’s and women’s hockey teams even though the two bodies have been unified,” he said.