No danger to men's hockey World Cup?

New Delhi, August 17

The international hockey federation (FIH) has made it clear that the Delhi High Court order that disbanded the Hockey India (HI) body will not affect India’s chances of hosting the Men’s Hockey World Cup, scheduled to be held from January 13 to 29 next year. The HC in its order in May had appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) to run the federation till fresh elections are held under the new constitution.

An FIH delegation and the CoA thrashed out their differences and came out with a timeline for the total reinstatement of the HI executive with elections to be held by October 9. This was discussed during a meeting between FIH acting chief Seif Ahmed and FIH CEO Thierry Weil with CoA members Justice (retd) Anil R Dave, SY Quraishi and Zafar Iqbal here today.

We don’t consider the court as a third party and respect the judiciary. We believe that the order of a court is not an interference. —Seif Ahmed, fih acting chief

“The two major points put forward by the FIH were addressed by the CoA,” a joint statement by FIH and the COA said. “The first draft of the modified constitution of Hockey India, as directed by honourable Delhi High Court, has been submitted today to FIH and the CoA, Hockey India will have a final draft delivered within the next ten days. Additionally, the process of elections for Hockey India was mutually decided to be completed by October 9th, 2022,” the statement added.

Ahmed said the body respects the court’s decision. “We don’t consider the court as a third party and respect the judiciary. We believe that the order of a court is not an interference,” he said.