FIH to allocate one tournament to India every year

NEW DELHI: Lured by commercial success of the just-concluded men’s World Cup, the International Hockey Federation has decided to allot one world-level tournament to India every year for next fours years.

The FIH took the decision in its Executive Board meeting in New Delhi last week after the conclusion of the World Cup.

“The FIH Board agreed in principle to allocate one tournament for men or women per year to India for the next four years and the FIH hopes to attract commercial and Television interest in these events,” the international body said.

“The Executive Board of FIH Board met in New Delhi on March 14 and 15 March at the end of a very good FIH World Cup. The Board was very pleased with the World Cup tournament,” it said.

During a media summit earlier this month, FIH had accepted that India contributed a major chunk of revenue earned by the world body, which came mainly from television.

The decision, however, did not come as a surprise as FIH marketing manager Steven Morris had earlier declared that looking at the commercial success of the World Cup, India would be an integral part of international body’s effort to lift the profile of hockey in the world.

Interestingly, during the World Cup, FIH president Leandro Negre said India would also host the inaugural World Cup of clubs in December this year and the international federation had even roped in an Indian sponsor for the event.

FIH Executive Board had also discussed the probability of starting a World Series competition from 2012 and a final call in this regard would be taken after studying the proposals from various committees during its next meeting in July, the statement said.

“The main agenda item of these fruitful meetings was on a new structure of the Executive Board to be presented at the next FIH Congress to be held in November 2010 in Montreux, Switzerland. The agreed structure calls for a reduction in the size of the Executive Board in order to focus on the strategy policy and direction of the FIH,” the release added.