Chairman’s post bone of contention

Did Indian Hockey Federation come up with a demand of a new post — that of a chairman — to rival the position of the president of the proposed unified hockey body? According to sources, both Hockey India and IHF had agreed that the new federation to be created out of the two existing entities would be headed by Airtel supremo Sunil Mittal.

However, on Friday, IHF said it wanted its president RK Shetty to be made the chairman of the new body until the new president was elected. However, HI sources had a different version saying IHF wanted a position which rivalled that of the president. IHF also wanted the general secretary’s post to be swapped after two years till elections in 2014, with Ashok Mathur to step in for Narinder Batra. This was unacceptable to HI.