FIH rejects interim settlement between HI-IHF

BANGALORE: India suffered the first big setback for having persuaded Hockey India and Indian Hockey Federation to form a single administrative unit with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rejecting the joint front and deciding to take the Champions Trophy and the Olympic qualifiers away from the country.

The FIH move comes with a rider though. They have sought a meeting with the sports ministry and the chiefs of Hockey India and Indian Olympic Association to discuss their concerns and the ramifications of the joint front.

“We will consider restoring the tournaments to India as also all the other events over the next four-year cycle if the Indian government gives an undertaking that Hockey India would be the sole body governing the sport in the country,” FIH president Leandro Negre told TOI.

“We recognise HI and only HI as the sole governing body in India. We have nothing to do with IHF. We haven’t recognised them since 2000. We don’t want anyone from that group and we don’t recognise any body that has members from IHF,” Negre said.

“The FIH is surprised and disappointed to learn that the proposal now is simply, as a temporary fix, to transfer governance authority in India from HI to a new ‘joint executive committee’ controlled jointly by HI and the IHF and ‘co-chaired’ by the HI and IHF presidents,” he added.

Saying that it was “surprised and disappointed” with the arrangement, the FIH said it come without their “prior consultation.”

“It is a fundamental and non-negotiable requirement of the Olympic Charter and the FIH Statutes (and indeed of the Indian government’s own guidelines and draft sports bill) that there can only be one governing body for a sport in each country with exclusive authority and responsibility to govern, organise national competitions and to enter national teams in international competitions,” FIH said.

As such, the FIH executive board has decided that it was neither possible nor appropriate to continue with the discussions with HI to host tournaments in India. “The FIH greatly regrets this decision but feels that it is left with no alternative in the circumstances,” the statement said.

“This compromise fails to resolve the underlying issues that have blighted Indian hockey for so long. In addition, it does not comply with FIH Statutes, which do not permit a member to transfer or share its powers to another body that is not a member of or bound by the FIH statutes, still less to share its powers with a body (the IHF) that is involved in organising an unsanctioned event (World Series Hockey), participation in which is prohibited under the FIH Statutes,” the statement said.