Don’t deal with HI, Ministry writes to FIH
uthraGchaturvedi
There seems no end to the mess that’s Indian hockey. While the national teams have been all but relegated to the shadows, the game of administrative one-upmanship continues without a break. In the latest twist in the saga of desperate attempts to gain control of the sport, the Sports Ministry has written to the international federation (FIH) not to assign any international tournament to or have any commercial dealings with Hockey India (HI) post its de-recognition by the government.
“They no longer enjoy government recognition and have assumed the character of a private body,” the letter states.
The letter also states that HI is no longer authorised to select and field the national team in international competitions. Instead, the letter favours the KPS Gill-led Indian Hockey federation (IHF) as the sole NSF for hockey in India, citing the Delhi High Court judgement and the IOA’s agreement to the same. The letter also states that the government supports the IHF’s ongoing attempts in forming a unified body for the administration of the sport, in association with the women’s body.
“Once this process is completed and the IHF becomes fully compliant with the FIH constitution, they will approach FIH for affiliation…the IHF is a long-standing body, which was set up in 1928, and the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation was also formed in 1951. Hence there should not be any doubt on their capacity to take care of the promotion and development of hockey in India,” the letter adds, making it clear that the government is completely in favour of doing away with HI.
“In the meanwhile, it is requested that the IOA or the SAI be permitted to field the Indian team,” it adds.
‘Ministry is vindictive’
However, Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra not only challenged the government’s derecognition but also claimed that the ministry was being vindictive. “There was a lot of pressure on everyone from the ministry to ensure Pargat Singh’s victory in the HI elections. The results are not officially out but Pargat went ahead and admitted defeat. The ministry in now hell-bent on making sure that HI doesn’t function. However, their recognition is not necessary for our functioning; we draw our recognition from the FIH and the IOA,” he said.
He also revealed that, though the IOA had been forced to recognise IHF following the court order, they had already served a notice to IHF (on July 23) and would soon derecognise it. “In that case, we will be the sole recognised authority (from IOA and FIH) for hockey in India. But we will definitely go to court challenging the ministry order,” he said.