Negre elected FIH President

Los Angeles: Leandro Negre is the new President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

The 62-year-old Spanish sports administrator, who is also the President of European Hockey Federation, was elected for a four year term at the FIH Congress here on Saturday.

Negre received more votes that Els van Breda Vriesman of the Netherlands, who has been the president since 2001. A total of 89 National Associations were present at the FIH Congress.

Appreciates Vriesman

Negre was delighted with the result. “I am very happy to be elected and I would like to thank the National Associations for voting for me”, he said.

“I would like to thank Els van Breda Vriesman for the excellent work she did for hockey”.

During the FIH Congress, the FIH welcomed five new National Associations: Mongolia, Qatar, Togo, Vanuatu and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

With these new members, the number of FIH member countries has increased to 127.