In an attempt to spread hockey to more countries across the world, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has decided to embark on an ambitious 10-year programme that involves a change in every aspect of the game, including the format.
Stressing on giving further impetus to the Hockey 5s — part of the Youth Olympics at the moment and a favourite project of his — FIH president Leandro Negre insisted on Monday that the shorter format of the game was the way forward.
“Our dream is to have both Hockey 11s and Hockey 5s in the Olympics. Sports like gymnastics and swimming have several disciplines, why cannot hockey too?
“In the Nanjing Youth Olympics, Zambia thrashed Germany in the Hockey 5s. Imagine if it plays the same game in the Olympics... instead of having one, why not both formats? But that is in the future. At the moment, our first step is to bring the youth into the game because the youth are the future. Youth in India, China, the African nations…” said Negre.
“We want to take the game into the smartphones of the youth. India remains important for us, there is a lot of scope for further development here. When I took over, there were maybe 25 pitches in the country; now there are over 100, but there can be many more. We have to take the game into the schools, that’s where Hockey 5s becomes important,” he said.
