FIH not biased against Asian players: Negre

NEW DELHI: International Hockey Federation president Leandro Negre on Wednesday dismissed allegations that the two-match suspension of Indian striker Shivendra Singh for injuring a Pakistani player in the ongoing World Cup was a reflection of FIH’s bias against the Asian players.

Negre said tournament director Ken Read was within his power to review the video footage of Shivendra lifting his stick and injuring Fareed Ahmed without the notice of umpires and complaint by Pakistan as it can be done under FIH rules if a player is injured.

“We follow a fair and open procedure without any bias. We follow the rules and guidelines. It is very clear from FIH rules that if a player is injured, the tournament director will have to review it without any complaint from anybody,” Negre said.

“Hockey is a fast paced game. The umpires may not notice certain things and Pakistan may not have complained. But if any player is injured we have to review and find out what had happened,” he said.

“Personally I feel that the incident was not intentional and accordingly the decision was handed,” he added.

Negre said that nobody should doubt the fairness of FIH. “It is important to have fair decisions and at the same time we should also have faith and confidence in the technical officials. Officials of different countries work together and take decisions in FIH,” said the Spaniard.