The International Hockey Federation on Friday defended extending the deadline for Hockey India’s elections but re-asserted that India would be barred from next year’s World Cup if a democratically elected body was not put in place by the end of January.

FIH president Leandro Negre said HI had till the end of January to settle all the affiliation issues of the state units to form a unified body keeping in mind the enormous paperwork 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 told reporters here.

“The FIH vice president recently visited India and informed me exactly what is happening here. When he told me that elections need to be postponed, I immediately agreed.

“Yes, it is very close to the World Cup but we have to look at the positive side,” Negre said.

During his visit earlier this month, FIH vice president Antonio von Ondarza granted HI an extension till January end to conduct the polls after the ad-hoc national federation had missed the paperwork for the original November 20 deadline.

The FIH chief, however, reiterated that failing the deadline, India would be barred from participating in the mega-event to be held here from February 28 to March 13. “India is integral to world hockey but we maintain that as per our constitution, there should be a elected body before the World Cup.”