Despite snags, FIH chief a happy man

Extra-tight security, poor coordination between various agencies, bad media handling… its been a demanding few days for the world body.

But FIH president Leandro Negre is not complaining. He’s satisfied with the security arrangements in place as well as happy about the boost the event was going to give to the game in India.

“It’s sort of balancing act. You can’t ignore the security aspect. But at the same time I am happy with the way things are heading at the moment,” the Spaniard said after his arrival in the Capital on Thursday. “There may be issues here and there, but it would get sorted out as the days progressed.”

Negre said the security arrangements were more stringent than he had expected for the event. “For us, players’ security is of paramount importance. We could not have compromised on that front. I am happy with the security here. Participating teams were constantly in touch with me over security and I convinced them that it would be adequate.”

Negre was excited that tickets for the India-Pakistan match on Sunday were sold out. “It’s going to be a great match and I would like to see India win the match.”