The affiliation issues of Hockey India don’t seem to be ending soon. On Sunday, Punjab raised allegations of “conspiracy” and “attempts of weaken the country’s powerhouse” after being denied affiliation by the national body despite fulfilling all the requirements.
“We were among the first state associations to merge all the four existing bodies in the state — Punjab men’s and women’s hockey and PEPSU men’s and women’s associations — to form one elected body, in August 2009. Since then, we have sent repeated requests for national affiliation but to no avail. The last communiqué was sent on December 12,” Sukhbir Singh Badal, president of Hockey Punjab (HP), said.
Hockey India, on the other hand, has repeatedly said that there were serious allegations against Hockey Punjab which were delaying the process, and HI president Ashok Mattoo reiterated the same on Sunday. “We are in the course of finalising all affiliation issues, including that of Punjab. There were some issues raised by members within and that is why it has not been granted affiliation till now,” Mattoo said, refusing to elaborate on either the allegations or the persons who had brought them.
Both Badal and SS Dhindsa, president of Punjab Olympic Association (POA) — the monitoring body of IOA at state level — refuted the charges. “All four associations in Punjab agreed to the merger, and their presidents and vice presidents are office-bearers in the new set-up. We would like to know who has disputed the elections,” they demanded.
Hockey India sources insist there were charges that Badal was elected without being present. But Dhindsa countered the claim. “The elections were held under POA supervision. Members from all the representative associations were present. It is strange that Hockey India is giving that excuse,” he said.
Presidency point
Interestingly, Badal is tipped to contest for the HI president’s post at the January 29 elections, but sources say HI is not keen on that. “Suresh Kalmadi wants to be elected as HI president, and Badal’s candidature will hamper that. Hockey India have unofficially offered to grant affiliation immediately if Badal agrees to not contest elections,” sources said.
While there have been contentious issues regarding affiliation of several state bodies, Punjab has been an exception as there have been no protests so far by anyone against the merger. Also, Punjab has always churned out national players and the Punjab Gold Cup was the only international tournament in the country last year.
HI, meanwhile, has insisted that they were looking into the issue. “As soon the committee — comprising Vidya Stokes, Narinder Batra, Mohd Mushtaque Ahmed, Rajeev Mehta and Amrit Bose — give us their recommendation, we will take a decision on all states by January 7,” officials said.
HI joint secretary and Olympian Pargat Singh said he was exasperated by the process. “We are not being given any official reason for being denied what is our right,” he said.
The other states yet to be recognised are Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai and Kerala.