The Hindu : FIH Executive Board accepts IHF's explanation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 11, 2003

Sport

Sport - Hockey

FIH Executive Board accepts IHF's explanation

By S. Thyagarajan

Chennai April 10. The Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has accepted the explanation offered by the Indian Hockey Confederation for its inability to take part in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament at Ipoh last month following a Government directive.

The EB, at its meeting in Athens last week, noted that the decision to stay away was essentially on account of the security of the players following the crackdown by the Police in Malaysia on the 270 IT professionals that triggered a diplomatic row between the Governments.

India withdrew from the tournament hours before the departure of the team on the advice of the Ministry of Sports in response to an advisory from the Ministry of External Affairs.

There was disappointment both in the IHF and also in Malaysia over the decision to stay away after making preparations for over two months. In fact, the IHF had worked on two stages, first putting the players through a tough commando training and then into intense coaching and playing sessions for another month.

Quite predictably, everyone felt that the team was a right amalgam of experience and youth strong enough to contend for the title at Ipoh. Dhanraj was nominated as the captain for the team which contained a majority of the players who took part in the Asian Games at Busan where India missed the gold by a whisker as it was against South Korea.

Understandably, grave misgivings surfaced over what the attitude of the FIH would be for withdrawing from the event just two days before the scheduled start. Suggestions that there may be sanctions, or fine, or both, surfaced in some quarters but it is heartening to know that the EB meeting at Athens had taken a realistic view of the whole situation. The FIH Secretary Peter Cohen in a communication to The Hindu before the meeting had indicated that the FIH indeed was disappointed that a major outfit like India had to pull out after confirming participation. He added that such happenings caused a lot of embarrassment to the host and forced the organising unit to sustain a financial loss apart from pushing it to re-organise the fixtures, etc. The inference then was that there may be a serious debate on the issue, but Mr. Peter Cohen in another message on Thursday to The Hindu said that the EB had accepted the IHF's standpoint on the issue. Mr. Peter Cohen said in an e-mail, " The question was raised at the Executive Board meeting. By that time, I had received a letter of explanation from the Indian Hockey Confederation which the Board accepted. Essentially, the IHC had received advice from the Indian Government that it would not be safe for the Indian team to travel to Malaysia."

Now that the chapter on Aslan Shah episode has been closed, it is time the IHF informed the Ministry the problems faced by national teams from the host as well as the International Federations for non-clearance in the final hour. The Ministry must be made aware of the penalties that the national federation would be subjected to if such decisions are taken causing immense disappointment to the players who sweat it out day and night in training camps for bringing laurels to the country. The Indian team faced the threat of a fine upto Euro 2000 for withdrawing at the eleventh hour.

The predicament of the FIH in circumstances where the Government interferes in sporting activities is understandable. The Federation is alive to the helplessness of federations which are bound to bow before the diktats of the Government, especially when the decision to pull out is based on security considerations as happened in the case of India at Ipoh.

With the conditions round the world being what they are from the security point of view, the FIH perforce has to be flexible as it did in the case of United States which could not take part in the World Cup qualifier in France after 9/11 and even in the play-off series against India when the Indo-Pak. tension on the border loomed large.

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