INTERNATIONALHockeyFederation(FIH)presidentLeandro Negre on Friday defended the decision to postpone Hockey India elections by three months, saying he was confident the World Cup, scheduledtobeheldinFebruary-March2010,wouldremaininIndia.

Regulations state that a country must have an elected body running the sport for it to be recognised by the FIH, and to participate in the World Cup. “India is a vast country. Some problems will always be there, and it needs time to merge all the states together,” Negre said, just hours after signing an agreement with the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to be the presenting partner for the tournament.

“TheFIHvicepresident(AntoniovanOndarza)visitedIndiaand informed me exactly what is happening here. When he told me that electionsneedtobepostponed,Iimmediatelyagreed.Itisveryclose to World Cup but we have to look at the positive side,” he added.

When asked what would happen if there was no elected body was in place by the end of January, Negre said there was no Plan B.

“According to its constitution, Hockey India were willing to hold elections on November 19 itself. The decision to postpone elections was taken to allow maximum number of states to be a part of the process. I’m confident that the elections will take place as scheduled in a transparent, democratic manner with representation from everyone. I have a lot of faith in sports minister MS Gill and he has assured me that the job will be done,” Negre said.