Times of India: India’s Joshi promoted to FIH Promising List of umpires

NEW DELHI: India’s Deepak Joshi was promoted to the FIH Promising List (Outdoor Hockey) umpires.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced the decision on Friday.

Joshi hails from Haldwani, Uttarakhand and was a former national-level hockey player for his state team.

However, the 29-year-old decided to switch to umpiring in 2010-11 after completing his Diploma in Sports Coaching from the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala.

His hard-work and determination in this field saw him being considered for the Hockey India National Championships in 2013 when he was assigned his first assignment. With the support of the Hockey India Umpiring, Technical and Competitions Committee, Joshi excelled in the domestic circuit and was rewarded with a chance to umpire at the international level in 2015 when he officiated in the U21 6-Nations Tournament in Breda, Netherlands.

Joshi did not look back after getting recognised by the Hockey India Umpiring, Technical and Competitions Committee as one of the top young umpires in the country.

He has been assigned the duties of umpire in some major tournaments like the Uttar Pradesh Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup Lucknow 2016, Hero Men’s Asia Cup 2017 and the recently concluded Gold Coast 2018 XXI Commonwealth Games in Australia.

However, Joshi believes that there is still a long way to go in his journey which started only five years ago.

“I am very honoured to have been promoted to the FIH Promising List (Outdoor Hockey). It has been a great learning curve for me in the past six-seven years and I would like to credit Hockey India and its Umpiring, Technical and Competitions Committee for providing the right support and facilities,” Joshi said.

Congratulating Joshi, Hockey India’s Secretary General, Md. Mushtaque Ahmad said, “I would like to extend my congratulations to Deepak Joshi on being promoted to FIH’s Promising List. It brings me immense joy to see that India is being represented strongly on the International circuit when it comes to umpires.

“We have been focusing on providing a platform for young umpires like Deepak to excel and contribute to the hockey revolution both in the country and abroad.”