IHF puts ball in sports ministry’s court

Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) chief KPS Gill has said that the sports ministry will have to take the initiative to sort out the mess in hockey administration.

“The honourable Delhi high court noted that the way forward was with the sports ministry taking officials of the IHF and HI into confidence. I am waiting to see how they respond and what they plan to do,” Gill said on the sidelines of a conference, ‘Building secure cities in troubled times’, organised by Security Watch India.
The game has subsequently been run in the country by Hockey India (HI), an ad-hoc body propped up by the IOA, which was also given affiliation by the world body (FIH).

The government disassociated itself from the new body in February this year, when it said it would only deal through the IOA and SAI on hockey matters as it doubted HI’s affiliation and democratic processes.

“I have no problem working with HI. We have worked together in the past and I am open to working with them again,” said Gill, who was still not clear about the way forward with FIH.