HI to send teams to Asiad: SC

R Sedhuraman

The Supreme Court today allowed Hockey India (HI) to select and send the Indian teams to the Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou on the banks of Pearl River in China. A Bench comprising Justices RV Raveendran and HL Gokhale, however, asked HI, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) together with the Sports Ministry and try to resolve their problems.

On the other hand, IHF is the only body recognized by the Indian government. The Asian Games are to be held in China from November 12-27. As soon as the case was taken up today, the Bench said “You have lost the match. Tensions have subsided. What is the problem now?” The court was obviously referring to Indian men hockey team’s humiliating 0-8 defeat at the hands of Australia in the CWG final. HI counsel Mukul Rohatgi said the court was being approached because of the Asian Games. He said HI had selected the same teams that were fielded for the CWG.

The Bench slated the next hearing for December so that the case could be disposed of before the annual accreditation of HI with FIH came to a close at the end of the year.