HOCKEY | Former players back Tirkey, call for reform in HI

Amid the escalating rifts within Hockey India (HI), a group of former players has thrown its weight behind HI president Dilip Tirkey and called for urgent reform in the running of the federation.

Some members of the group, of which illustrious names like Zafar Iqbal, V. Baskaran and Ashok Kumar are a part, gathered for a protest at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here on Friday.

While the aforementioned trio couldn’t be in attendance, Olympians Vineet Kumar and Romeo James, who were part of the Indian team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, were among those who made their voices heard.

Having been denied permission by the authorities to express dissent inside the venue, the former players held placards outside Gate No. 7.

The tussles in the governing body came into prominence on September 12 when Director General Cdr. R.K. Srivastava was stripped of all his powers and asked to explain repeated instances of non-compliance with Tirkey’s directives. Srivastava had travelled to the recent World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium despite Tirkey directing him not to do so.

The factional discord was exacerbated a couple of days later when Srivastava accompanied secretary general Bhola Nath Singh to Chandigarh for the formal announcement of the men’s Asian Champions Trophy even as Tirkey was meeting Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in New Delhi. An emergent Executive Board meeting on September 18 was then called by Bhola Nath without Tirkey’s sanction.

Former India women’s team captain Asunta Lakra, who had accused Bhola Nath of intimidating her with consequences after she raised objections to the alleged harassment of young girls in Jharkhand, was also part of the protest.

The dissenting group’s primary demand is for an ad-hoc committee — comprising former players, a retired judge or legal luminary and an observer from the sports ministry or Sports Authority of India (SAI) — to run the affairs till the next elections.

Pramod Batlaw, a member of the silver-winning team at the 1978 Asian Games, said it was paramount for HI to be cleaned up. “There are people in HI who don’t know anything about the sport. They want to send Tirkey out and take all the powers,” he told The Hindu.