IHF, HI to bury their differences

A solution appeared in sight on Thursday as the two rival bodies — Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and Hockey India (HI) — agreed in principle to bury their differences at the end of a series of meetings.

A final draft was prepared for the merger of the IHF and HI with both agreeing to a new name for the sake of Indian hockey.

The meeting, at the Shastri Bhawan, was held in the presence of two senior officials from the Union Sports Ministry, which had taken the initiative to solve the problem that has hampered the smooth conduct of the game for some time.

The IHF officials sought a day’s time to take the final decision on the draft that suggested an expanded body of the two executive committees. “We are positive and want to get over it as early as possible,’ said IHF president R.K. Shetty.

“We have moved ahead in the right direction and a solution is round the corner,” confirmed HI secretary N.K. Batra.

The contractual obligations of the two bodies would be allowed to progress and officials from the two bodies confessed that it would help in better administration of hockey in the country. A contentious issue was the eligibility of the players already signed up for the World League, floated by the IHF and Nimbus, to represent thecountry. HI will need to sort this out with the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

HI was agreeable to fix a cut-off date for those who had already committed, it is learnt. It will need the approval of the FIH also since the international body had said that only tournaments conducted by its affiliated units would be recognised and players competing in unauthorised competitions faced bans.

“Hockey is bigger than Shetty and Batra,’ said the IHF president. “We have to assess the comfort level of working together and take the process forward. We have to forget our egos and some compromise has to be made,” he added.

“Let us run hockey together” is the motto that the meeting adopted. A new name for the unified body would mean a lot to the hockey fraternity. The focus is on the efficient organisation of the proposed international tournaments to be hosted by India in the next couple of years — Champions Trophy, Olympics qualifiers, junior World Cup and the World League finals.

According to a Sports Ministry official, most issues were likely to be thrashed out by this weekend.