Hockey: FIH googly leaves sports minister stumped

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) had played its card to perfection. A couple of hours before its president Leandro Negre’s meeting with sports minister Ajay Maken, they announced Auckland as the replacement venue for the Champions Trophy, which the sport’s world governing body had taken away from India last week.

That announcement meant that Maken, and Hockey India (HI), had no chance of ‘persuading’ Negre to restore India as hosts — something that the minister and the hockey body were intending to. Negre’s message was clear though: bring the house in order, else lose the Olympic qualifiers as well.

“Our position has not changed. India is important to us, but FIH is committed towards having only one national federation in our member nations as per our constitution and IOC charter,” Negre said after the meeting with Maken, sports ministry joint secretary Rahul Bhatnagar and HI secretary general Narendra Batra in New Delhi.

“We had decided to hand over the Champions Trophy to New Zealand much in advance. I hope we do not have to take away the (Olympic) qualifiers from you and a solution will be reached upon,” added Negre.

The FIH’s decision to announce Auckland as the host just hours before their meeting irked Maken. “I asked Negre why they announced the name of the alternate venue only four hours before the meeting. I expressed my displeasure and said it was not the right way. We never expected the Champions Trophy to come back but at least we expected them to take a decision after consultation with us,” Maken said.

While the FIH hasn’t given a specific deadline, the ministry effectively has four months to sort out the issues as the Olympic qualifiers are scheduled to be conducted in New Delhi coming February.

“We’ll get the IOA on board now,” Bhatnagar told DNA. “It is important to keep them in the loop as they are one of the important stakeholders.”

The IOA has till now not attended a single meeting held by the government to deal with the merger of HI and the Indian Hockey Federation. With the IOA not involved, the FIH had expressed its displeasure, accusing the government of violating the Olympic charter by influencing the functioning of a national federation. With IOA on board, the ministry hopes FIH does not see government’s actions as ‘interference’.

“FIH’s basic concern is to have a single body that will govern the game. We have Hockey India doing that. Now we have to ensure that the officials from IHF are included in the committee. We will sit with all four stakeholders (HI, IHF, IOA and FIH) and hopefully, find a solution soon,” Bhatnagar said.