Wild cards for Champions Trophy hockey likely

New Delhi: The proposal of wild cards for Champions Trophy and the plan to conduct a new event are with the Competitions Committee which will soon give its approval for them. This was stated by Leandro Negre, President, International Hockey Federation (FIH) at a media briefing on Saturday.

The FIH President confirmed two wild cards will become a reality shortly, and the Champions Trophy, one of the flagship events of the FIH will be held once in two years from 2011.

While thanking the media for the “fantastic” coverage of the New Delhi World Cup, despite initial hiccups in various areas, Negre had to face several questions from the media over the state of affairs in Indian hockey.

No extension

Negre asserted that there cannot be anymore extension of the FIH deadline after May 31, and India has to face the “consequences,” if elections are not held.

He specifically mentioned “ego problems” standing in the way for such an exercise.

Negre added that Holland and England are in the race to host the next World Cup. Both are prepared to conduct the men’s and women’s events together.

Final call

The EB would take a final call on the issue after deliberating the issues involved in marketing two championships together. The FIH boss offered the federation’s unstinted help for any venture by the national units, and was keen that the PHL be revived.

He did not elaborate much on his meetings with the IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and thanked him for changing the times for the matches to accommodate the hockey final on Saturday. — Hockey Correspondent