A 6-member committee in the offing to manage Indian affairs?
This is what is floating in the IHF circle nowadays. It seems the Indian Hockey Federation has got a favourable decision from the Federation Internationale de Hockey’s Judicial Commission with respect to who should govern the sport in India.
Accordingly, the global parent body has, according to sources, decided to constitute a six-member committee to solve the protracted tussle between Hockey India and Indian Hockey Federation.
The Committee will start functioning from May 1.
The objective of the new body will be to finalize modalities of settlement with a deadline and it is expected to be by the end of September.
The FIH President Leondro Negre was in Delhi on Monday to discuss the issue with both the warring factions, and his visit was kept a secret.
He has met IHF Advisor KPS Gill among others.
The Indian Olympic Association dissolved the Indian Hockey Federation in the aftermath of a sting operation by a television company, and it was due to India’s failure to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
Then an adhoc committee was formed with a mandate to run the sport and to conduct elections within six months. However, a new body called Hockey India was formed in a secretive manner which surprised many.
Meanwhile, Delhi High Court dismissed the IOA’s action, which revived the IHF stakes. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, which funds most of the hockey programs, acknowledged the IHF as the official national federation to administer hockey. It did not go for appeal.
However, the FIH stood by the HI more stubbornly despite this legal resolution.
Supreme Court has time and again passed interim orders by which the HI could select national team to participate in international tournaments, starting from Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile the IHF in collaboration with Nimbus Sports organized a very big and hugely successful World Series Hockey.
The success of WSH seemed to have softened the FIH stand.
Nimbus and the IHF also took enormous efforts, legal or otherwise, to force reason with the FIH, one of which was believed to be filing a case with Court of Arbitration for Sports.
If the formation of six-member committee is true, then at least we can look forward to some solution to the lingering problem, that is almost killing the talent in the country.