Factions meet, hockey gains

Uthra G Chaturvedi

At long last, hockey in India seems set to have a single administrative body to run the sport. The two warring factions, Hockey India (HI) and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), after several hiccups, agreed on Thursday on the broad principles of forming one governing body. The final draft agreement will be signed on Friday.

However, both sides are unwilling to use the word ‘merger’, and have agreed upon retaining their identities till the nitty-gritties of the arrangement are worked out and “all other issues have been resolved”.

“It is not a merger. It can be called an amalgamation of representatives from both sides to end the stalemate,” IHF president RK Shetty told The Indian Express after the meeting that was also attended by Sports Secretary Sindhushri Khullar. Both parties also met Sports Minister Ajay Maken on Thursday morning.

Shetty also confirmed that a new body will be formed, by bringing together the two administrative units on an as-they-exist basis, which will represent India at the International Hockey Federation (FIH). “It will be a new body with a new name, though we haven’t finalised any yet. Once that is done, we will approach the Registrar of Societies,” he said.

Sources, however, said that the new name is likely to be Bharat Hockey or Indian Hockey Confederation (IHC), a name that already exists with the FIH.

While the crux of the proposal remains the same as the one initially proposed by the sports ministry on June 11, a few changes have been made to accommodate the IHF — most notably, the earlier clause that HI be the sole National Sports Federation for hockey in India and maintain affiliation with the international federation has been done away with.

For his part, HI secretary general Narinder Batra also confirmed the move. “We have always been in favour of finding an amicable solution. We were prepared today as well to sign the final draft but the IHF wanted a formal approval of their working committee. Hopefully it will be all be over by this time tomorrow,” he said, after the meeting.

Retaining identities

Batra added that there would be no overlapping of interests. “Even though both HI and IHF will exist in the country, there will be only one organisation that will govern the sport. That organisation will select, train and field teams in international events and conduct national tournaments, including the national championships,” he said, adding wherever there was a conflict of interest, the two parties would continue working independently.

“We will have our league, they will have theirs. There is no overlapping of interest,” he said, clearing the way for the World Series and adding that the FIH was completely in the know of the development.

With regard to both HI and IHF actually merging into one body, Shetty said it was a possibility in the future. “This is the best way forward because once we work together for some time, the comfort level and trust will automatically build up. Maybe a year or two down the line, when all other issues are slowly sorted out — including on state associations — there may well be a single body in existence,” he said.