FIH happy with India’s World Cup preparations

NEW DELHI: The International Hockey Federation expressed satisfaction on the preparation of next month’s FIH World Cup and said the venue for theevent, Major Dhyanchand National Stadium is one of the best ones in the world.

An FIH delegation led by president Leandro Negre and Indian Olympic Association chief Suresh Kalmadi carried out an inspection of the National Stadium on Tuesday evening where the mega-event would be held from February 28 to March 13.

“2010 is a very important year for FIH. We have two World Cups, first the men’s World Cup here and then the women’s World Cup in Argentina. We are spending a lot of time to make both the events a success,” Negre told reporters.

“FIH had lot of concerns that things were not organised properly in one of our member countries. But now we are very happy with how things are moving here. The stadium is beautiful. It will be one of the most important hockey stadiums and the FIH appreciates the work of all stakeholders in building it.

“Everything is ready in the stadium and we just need the furniture to be in place. One turf is already ready and the other will also be completed very soon,” he added.

Interestingly, India’s chief coach Jose Brasa had recently said if the hosts desire to capitalise on home advantage, the stadium has to be made available to his wards at the earliest.

But IOA president Kalmadi said with thousands of fans cheering for them, the Indian players will always feel at home during the mega event.

“The stadium is in the final lap. I hope the Indian team can start training on it in the first or second week of next month.

“The Indians are already at home in Pune and it won’t be a problem. Anyways the Indian players will get more time in the stadium than any other team,” he said.

Incidentally, there won’t be any tournament to test the facilities of the National Stadium, the construction of which is in final stages, before the World Cup after the four-nation event was cancelled earlier this month.

But the FIH president said a test event was not mandatory for a hosting nation to organise before the World Cup.

“It is not mandatory but we had recommended it as the stadium is a new one. As far as I know a few matches will be played here before the World Cup,” Negre said.

Negre also said he was confident of India providing the best possible security during the mega event, a topic which is matter of concern for some participating countries.

“In this time security is a concern everywhere not just in India. Off course there are some countries which have approached us with the security issue but we have assured them that India will give the best security,” the FIH president said.