Hockey: Form a single body or lose Olympic qualifiers too, FIH tells India

Still reeling from the Champions Trophy shock, India could also lose next year's Olympic qualifiers if a single national federation was not put in place before the event, the International Hockey Federation warned today.

India lost the hosting rights of the Champions Trophy, which was initially alloted to the country, to New Zealand today after failing to resolve the prolong power struggle between Hockey India and Indian Hockey Federation.

"It's impossible for India to get back the hosting rights of Champions Trophy. New Zealand will host it and it is our final decision," FIH President Leandro Negre said.

"India is important to us but FIH is committed towards having only one national federation in our member nations as per our constituion and IOC charter," he said.

But FIH chief executive officer Kelly Fairweather seemed optimistic about India hosting the London Olympic qualifiers next February but warned that it could also face Champions Trophy's fate if the two warring factions -- HI and IHF --fail to break their impasse.

"Today we had a series of meeting with Sports Minister (Ajay Maken), ministry officials, Hockey India among others. All the meetings were positive but we made it clear that what FIH wants is a single body for hockey in the country," Fairweather told PTI here.

Asked about the Olympic qualifiers, he said, "It has still some time and we hope to find out a resolution before that."

Fairweather said discussions about alloting the Champions Trophy back to India was never on the agenda of today's meetings.

"For us it was a surprise to see that people were still hopeful of getting backing the Champions Trophy because we have already made it clear earlier this month that the tournament has been shifted out of India and we will name a replacement venue in a week's time," he said.