Gill schedules AGM for suspended IHF

Gill, despite being shunted out of the IHF office by the Indian Olympic Association, has sent out a letter to all state associations, informing them about the Annual General Meeting to be held in New Delhi on September 17.

While the IOA-supported ad hoc committee has ridiculed the move, Gill has justified his August 25 correspondence to the IHF affiliated units.

“Since we have questioned the IOA’s action to dissolve our body in the Delhi High Court, we retain the right to call the meeting,” Gill told The Indian Express.

Expectedly, the ad-hoc body convenor Mohammad Aslam countered the man who has had 15-year stint at the IHF helm. “How can he call an AGM, for the simple reason that the IHF doesn’t exist at present? I don’t think there will be any response to his call,” said Khan.

But in an interesting twist, a few long-standing Gill-baiters within the IHF seem to be changing their stance. The president of the Mumbai Hockey Association Keher Singh says that he is willing to attend the AGM next month. “Though the MHA committee will sit and decide, I personally think that every state association should go for the meeting. The reason I say this is because the ad hoc committee has alienated the state associations,” said Kehar. Singh felt that the IOA should have included state representatives in the committee and called for fresh elections.

This view, however, was not yet unanimous. Karnataka State Hockey Association secretary K Krishnamurthy said things will be clearer on September 9 when all state association hold an informal meeting to decide the future course of action. “The Bengal Hockey Association has called a seminar where we will chalk out our strategy,” said Krishnamurthy.

“The AGM is illegal, so I don’t think we will be attendance. On the point of the ad-hoc committee’s neglect of state bodies, I feel the committee has not involved the units just because they have no right to do that, the matter still being in court,” he said.