FIH allots Champions Trophy to New Zealand

M.S. Unnikrishnan

Tribune News Service

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced today that the 2011 edition of the Champions Trophy would be held in New Zealand. Even as FIH president Leandro Negre was having parleys with Sports Minister Ajay Maken and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra in Delhi today, supposedly to find a solution to the FIH threat of pulling out the event from Delhi and the disaffiliation of Hockey India, the FIH announcement came from Lausanne that the event would be held in Auckland, the capital of New Zealand, from December 3 to 11.

“As part of the move, New Zealand, ranked seven in the world, will replace 9th ranked India in the Champions Trophy. India was originally allotted a place in the Champions Trophy as the host, but has now been extended an invitation to play as the top-seeded team at the Champions Challenge in November in South Africa,” the FIH said.

“It is always tough to move an event out of any country, but I have to say that the silver lining is the bid from New Zealand,” said Negre. “New Zealand will put on a first-rate Champions Trophy and has been extremely flexible and professional given the tough circumstances and tight timeline. I know that they will do an excellent job hosting the event.” The FIH said New Zealand was “excited” to get the opportunity to bring the top men’s hockey event of 2011 to Auckland.

However, the news was received with disbelief in hockey circles in Delhi, where the Indian team had returned from Ordos last night after winning the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy and were being feted and felicitated by the Sports Ministry and Hockey India at different functions here today.

“It is a privilege to be hosting this event,” Hockey New Zealand Chief Executive Hilary Poole was quoted as saying by the FIH. “We have been overwhelmed how quickly our key partners have come together to offer support to ensure this is a truly fantastic event. We have the structure in place and with work already underway, we are confident that we can deliver a world-class event in a short timeframe.”

FIH Competitions Committee Chairman Ken Read went to New Zealand for a site visit and came away with a positive impression. “After seeing the facilities and infrastructure first hand I am very confident that Hockey New Zealand is prepared to host a great event for the athletes and supporters,” Read said.

FIH said the schedule of the Champions Trophy will be released in the upcoming weeks, but it is certain that the dates of December 3-11 will remain fixed. In addition, a revised schedule for the Champions Challenge in South Africa will also be published. Both events will have eight-team pools in a nine-day tournament.

Interestingly, the main reason for FIH pulling out the Champions Trophy from India was the non-clearance of $500,000 owed to it for holding the World Cup in Delhi last year, by the Reserve Bank of India.

The FIH, which was part of a private body which organised the World Cup in Delhi, is reported to have earned around Rs 40 crore from the World Cup and it was hoping to make such overkill from the Champions Trophy as well. But with IOA president Suresh Kalmadi in jail – he was the moving force behind the hosting of the World Cup — and the sports scene having changed following the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam, the FIH has perhaps realised that it would not be possible for it take home big bucks from the Champions Trophy.

Now, India will be trying to convince Negre of at least retaining the Olympic qualifiers allotted to Delhi, to be held in February next year as scheduled, as India would be fighting for a berth in the 2012 London Olympics.

But Malhotra stays hopeful

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra, after a meeting with International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Leandro Negre at his residence here this evening, said that he had not completely lost hope regarding Delhi hosting the Champions Trophy in December, despite the FIH announcement that its executive board has allotted the championship to New Zealand.

Negre, however, insisted that it was “impossible” to reverse the decision of shifting the Champions Trophy to New Zealand. “We are committed to Indian hockey no doubt, but it’s impossible to change the decision of allotting the Champions Trophy to New Zealand,” Negre told The Tribune as he came out of the meeting. He admitted that the viewership for the game in New Zealand would not be as big as in India, but now very little time was left for the FIH executive board to reverse the decision.

But Malhotra said he had not lost all hope, and he would write to FIH strongly to reconsider its decision. He impressed upon Negre that FIH should have talked the matter over with the IOA before taking the decision, as “we also don’t accept the decision to merge the two hockey bodies”.