FIH chief sets October deadline

Harpreet Kaur lamba

New Delhi

April 7: International Hockey Federation president Leandro Negre on Tuesday set a deadline of October this year to get things in order if India are to host the 2010 World Cup in the capital.

On a three-day visit, the Spaniard inspected the National Stadium — the main match venue — on Tuesday and later met Union sports minister M.S. Gill to assess “security issues”.

In an exclusive chat with this paper, Negre said, “I am happy with what I saw… but there is still work to do. We have been guaranteed that all will be finished by the end of this October. We need to run some test tournaments before the World Cup which is a minimum requirement.”

On top of the agenda of Negre’s trip to India are “security” and “organisation of the event at the highest level”.

“October is a deadline. Everything will have to be ready completely… not only the stadiums, but also the organisation and the plans,” Negre said.

Asked if the world body was thinking of a back-up if India failed to meet the deadline, the 62-year old said, “No, not at the moment.”

Though members of the ad-hoc committee have been quiet all this while, Negre’s October deadline has set the ball rolling.

Said Negre, “Security is a very big concern, and it is not only about India, terrorists can attack anywhere. Yesterday, we had a meeting with the ad-hoc committee members and discussed the issue in great detail. We were assured that utmost methods will be put in place, but there are concerns still to be addressed,” Negre said in clear terms.

The Spaniard also raised concerns about the ad-hoc committee’s tenure — whose creation itself is disputed in a court of law — and said “that a national federation” is what the FIH would like to work with.

“This is another very important reason that I am here. The world body is very clear that there needs to exist a national federation. ‘Hockey India’, which will be an amalgamation of the men’s and women’s federation, is a necessity and needs to be created as soon as possible.”

Negre also met the J.B. Roy-led state associations on the day, who asked the FIH chief to use his influence to conduct fresh IHF elections. Negre assured full support to bring Indian hockey back to normalcy.

“Once the picture (regards the national body) is clear, it will be easier to find sponsors and broadcasters for the World Cup,” he said.