Hockey India — the body formed earlier this year to run the sport in the country — is likely to miss their November 20 deadline for conducting elections, with representatives who have been ignored by the new body demanding they be recognised to ensure that the polls are free and fair.

Hockey India was registered on May 20, in line with the FIH diktat to have a single body administering the game. The international body had insisted that a democratically elected body should be in place within six months.

A delegation of representatives from state associations of Punjab, Bengal, Karnataka and other states met FIH vice-president and observer Antonio van Ondarza on Thursday, seeking clarifications on fair elections. “We met Ondarza and told him that we wanted that the elections should be fair and that all parties should have representation,” Pargat Singh, Hockey Punjab secretary, told The Indian Express.

Punjab is one of the associations yet to be granted recognition by Hockey India — along with Bengal, Karnataka and Kerala and a few others — despite being recommended for the same by their respective State Olympic Associations (SOA). “We have come to know that we do not figure in the list of recognised associations despite following all procedures. That doesn’t make any sense,” Pargat added.

Papers in place

Sources said that other associations that have been ignored too have legal papers in place to prove the presence of a unified body in the state. “They seem to be trying to get their own people in. How can you have elections without any representation from states such as Punjab, Karnataka or Bengal? With the ministry and FIH getting involved now, things will hopefully be better,” a source said.

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