Hockey’s turf war gets murkier

Confusion prevailed as the tussle to control Indian hockey got murkier. It was a day when Hockey India couldn’t hold its election because of a court ruling, the Sports Ministry continued to recognise two national bodies while the FIH vice-president Antonio van Ondarza wasn’t clear about India’s future internationally.

Even though HI had decided to go ahead with the elections despite Tuesday’s court order that derecognise them, president-candidate Pargat Singh opposed any voting till the Sports Ministry filed its reply in the Delhi High Court. That process remained inconclusive as the court stayed the elections till August 9 and directed the parties involved — the KPS Gill-led IHF, the sports ministry, the IOA and Hockey India — to sit together and sort their differences. The ministry, on its part, refused to issue any more clarifications to the court on its stated position.

More drama unfolded when the Bombay High Court stayed HI’s elections after hearing a petition filed by Ikram Khan, former secretary of the Maharashtra Hockey Association. While HI went to a division bench of the Bombay HC seeking vacation of the order, they are now planning to petition the Supreme Court on Thursday in an attempt to end the impasse. “There will be two requests made by Hockey India to the Supreme Court: one, vacating the stay order on elections in both Delhi and Bombay. And two, clubbing of all such related matters, pending in various courts across India, under one umbrella in an attempt to put a complete end to such matters,” HI sources said. Its interim secretary Narinder Batra claimed helplessness. “We have wanted to hold elections. We tried doing it thrice before, but everytime there was stay. I cannot do anything in this matter, except hope for an early resolution of the legal hurdles. We held our AGM this morning as scheduled. Elections were the second item on our agenda but the court orders forced us to postpone it,” he said.

Meanwhile, the international federation’s representative Ondarza was puzzled by the developments. “We have gone from deadline to deadline in the last two years and achieved nothing. HI has a provisional acceptance from FIH only till July 31, 2010,” he said. IHF president KPS Gill hinted at a possible solution to the problem. “After the so-called disaffiliation, I wrote a letter to Ministry, IOA and FIH and told them that I’m ready to sit together with anybody to find a solution but till now nothing has come out of it,” he said.