International Hockey Federation today defended extending the deadline for Hockey India’s elections but also asserted that India would be barred from next year’s World Cup if they fail to put in place a democratically elected body by the end of January.

FIH President Leandro Negre said HI was given time till January end to settle all the affiliation issues of the state units to form a unified body keeping in mind the enormous paperworks involved in the process.

“India is a vast country, so problems will always be there and it needs time to merge all the states together,” Negre said today. — PTI