HI elections still a concern: Negre
Mihir Vasavda / DNA
Leandro Negre possesses the look of a man who has attained the nirvana. With the World Cup barely a month away, the venue near its completion, the Indian players back to training and the Hockey India elections on schedule, for now, there’s little to worry for the International hockey federation (FIH) president.
At the cafe of a plush hotel in the suburbs, sipping a double whisky with coke, Negre sits relaxed after his meeting with IPL chief Lalit Modi and later with Sahara’s Subrata Roy.
But he is not counting chickens yet. Having worked in tandem with the Indian authorities for more than one year now, he knows it is not over until it is actually over.
So do the elections, just 21 days prior to the World Cup bother the FIH? “It’s a wise question you know. But yes, it (elections) is a concern,” Negre told DNA. “Elections are fairly close to the World Cup. However, things are better now. There have been concerns related to that throughout but we have to follow our laws,” added Negre.
His statement at a press conference earlier in the day, saying that FIH never laid down any guidelines to Hockey India with only one state, one association rule, has put the national body in a spot again.
Hockey India has maintained all the time that FIH has stressed on having one association per state for affiliation and though Negre feels it’s ‘logical’ to have it that way, he asserts that FIH never imposed any guidelines.
“I don’t know why Hockey India have been saying FIH has stressed on that rule! But it is a domestic problem and it would be wrong for us to intervene,” he said.
FIH has been working with the Indian Olympic Association officials to form HI ever since the dissolution of Indian Hockey Federation. But the process has taken an unusually long time and Negre admits that mistakes have been from both sides.
“India is a difficult place to work. But when we started, mistakes were made from both sides. I think we (FIH) made a lot of mistakes. The most important was of not knowing the people with whom we worked. A few were really good but working with some was not a good experience,” the Spaniard said.
He added, “But now we are past that stage. We know each person and that has really helped. I am extremely satisfied with the way things have unfolded over the last one year. We realised our mistakes and have worked as a team. It’s been a great journey!”
Negre feels hockey needs India desperately for the sport’s survival. “India is a key country and needs a lot of care from us. We want to see them back in the elite group, thus break the European domination, and also economically the country is very important,” he said.