We want Hockey India affiliation before poll: MHA

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Hockey Association (MHA), which is celebrating 75th year of its existence, has moved the Bombay High Court as it wants to take part in Hockey India’s electoral process by getting duly affiliated with the newly-formed body.

“The troubles being faced by Hockey India are its own making. We have moved the Bombay High Court seeking HI affiliation after our letters of application were being continually ignored by HI officials,” MHA spokesperson Joaquim Carvalho told a press conference on Monday.

The former Olympian claimed HI officials had tried to coerce the MHA into withdrawing the court case by offering it affiliation at the AGM of the pan-India body whenever it is held in future.

“We had gone and met Suresh Kalmadi (Indian Olympic Association President) in Delhi and also met A K Mattoo (the ex-chief of HI who resigned recently) in Mumbai. We wrote several letters but they were not answered,” Carvalho said.

“I got a call from Kalmadi the day after he met the (striking) Indian players in Pune and he promised we will be given affiliation after the elections. But I told him we were interested in taking part in the elections which he said was not possible. Then we moved the court,” he said.

Carvalho said later an attempt was made by Hockey India Treasurer Narendra Batra too to persuade MHA to withdraw its court case and this also came with a rider that no affiliation would be granted to the Mumbai body before HI’s elections.

“I told Batra too that we wanted to be part of the HI electoral process and would withdraw the case only if they grant us affiliation before the elections, which he said was not possible,” he said.

Carvalho said that yesterday’s statement of Union Sports Minister M S Gill in support of age-old institutions like MHA on the question of affiliation to HI has given a fillip to its aspirations.

MHA counsel Rakesh Kumar said they had prayed to the High Court to direct HI to give their application a fair and proper consideration after the latter had sat on the issue for several months.

“If it’s illegally thrown out (by HI) we would go back to the court,” he said, adding the next hearing of the case was due on January 27.