New Delhi: Poor administration has left Indian hockey on shaky ground ahead of the Asian Games in Japan, which begin on Saturday.
The EB was formed on October 1, 2022. “The sports minister has given time till October 14. The situation is even more dire in the women’s HIL where only APL Pipers have confirmed participation, with Ranchi Royals, Shrachi Bengal Tigers and JSW Soorma Hockey Club either being non-committal or informing the federation about their inability to participate.
“Out of the eight team, right now, only APL Pipers, Vedanta Kalinga Lancers and Hyderabad Toofans are on board for the HIL. This exodus of teams is heavily compounded by a major administrative rift within HI, primarily between president Dilip Tirkey and secretary general Bhola Nath Singh. “The main problem is the elections. Until the elections take place, the rift between the two sides will continue and the sport will continue to suffer. So the four-year term is about to be over. If the elections happen, everything will fall into place. From the discussions what came out was that a body needs to be formed which will run the administration of HIL where the franchises will also have a stake. It has been reliably learnt that a new Bengaluru franchise is interested while a replacement for the Chennai franchise is being worked upon. “The financial model has to be agreed upon.
The eighth team — HIL Governing Council team — was anyway a temporary outfit and cannot be a permanent solution,” a Hockey India (HI) official told HT on condition of anonymity. The other four teams—JSW Soorma Hockey Club, Accord Tamil Nadu Dragons, Shrachi Bengal Tigers, and Ranchi Royals—have either told Hockey India (HI) they are not taking part (some on paper, some verbally) or are non-committal about their participation. “At present, the women’s league looks very difficult,” said the official. “Everything is possible if there is a will,” said the HI official. Apart from team officials, Tirkey, Gill, secretary (sports) and Sports Authority of India (SAI) director general Hari Ranjan Rao, TOPS CEO NS Johal also attended the meeting where Bhola Nath joined virtually, a ministry official told HT. “He told all the stakeholders to work out a plan for the financial stability of the league and welfare of the players,” he said. The model needs to be worked upon,” a team official present in the meeting told HT. The minister asked the league to be revamped with a revised financial model and resolve trust in governance issues,” the team official said.
The internal power struggle has paralysed decision-making right before the federation’s upcoming elections.
