Times Of India: BANGALORE: International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Leandro Negre has given Hockey India time till October to hold elections and has warned
that failure to abide by the directive would see the Indian team barred from the 2010 World Cup.

In a chat with Bengal Hockey Association supremo JB Roy on Tuesday, Negre is reported to have said that he always wanted a democratically elected body to head Hockey India. “They have been given an ultimatum. If they do not hold elections by October, the World Cup will go on without the Indian team participating in it,” Negre reportedly told Roy.

The assurance came after Roy told Negre that it was wrong on the part of FIH to have granted recognition to Hockey India. “I told him that the organisation has nominees, not elected members, to various posts and is being headed by a former president of the boxing federation. I asked him whether such an organisation would be allowed to run hockey in Spain,” Roy told TOI.

“I told Negre that I am unhappy with the way FIH took this step without realising that democratic elections hadn’t been held to the body. If at all they were keen on creating a unified body, why didn’t they appoint officials associated with the game?” Casting their eyes on the future, both Roy and Indian Women’s Hockey Federation secretary Amrit Bose appealed to the FIH to “restrain Hockey India from adopting undemocratic ways in its bid to set up an elected body.”

The two officials also pointed out to Negre that the “IOA was interfering in the democratic process by announcing a three-member committee to form the state bodies and instructing these bodies not to admit anybody without the permission of its favourites, — Lalit Bhanot and Harish Sharma.”

“Neither of these two gentlemen have any relevance or relation to hockey,” they said.

Roy also told Negre that he planned to send a five-member delegation to meet the International Olympic Council (IOC) president Jacques Rogge in Lausanne and explain the plight of hockey in the country. “I will knock on the doors of the IOC and tell them about the high-handedness of the IOA. I’m not sure whether IOC will accede to our requests but we will make an attempt.”