Hockey India gets National Sports Federation status

New Delhi, 3 March 2014: It’s a moment of ecstasy for Hockey India (HI) today as they have finally been assigned the responsibility of promoting Hockey in India. Government of India through Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports recognized Hockey India as the sole body responsible towards promotion of sport in national and international arena.

Speaking on the recognition Hockey India Secretary General Dr. Narinder Batra said “it is a moment of pride for not only Hockey India but even for players and coaches who have worked towards this goal in their own ways and efforts. Our endeavor will always be to make hockey the number one sport in the country and we aim motivate the Indian team to achieve feats which Indians will remember and talk about when the history of Hockey is being discussed. We will continue our effort in that direction till the time we do not achieve what we set out to do”.

He further added “I earnestly thank the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for recognizing the efforts that we have been putting in the last few years and giving us the recognition that we deserve”.

Going by the guidelines in order to get this recognition, the Nationals Sports Body needs to be recognized as the body by both International Federation as well as Indian Olympic Association. Hockey India has fulfilled both the criteria since the year 2009 wherein International Hockey Federation (FIH) as well as Asian Hockey Federation have considered Hockey India as the body and major tournaments have been organized in association with Hockey India since then.

Since 2012, Hockey India and FIH have organized major tournaments like FIH Olympic Qualifiers, FIH World League Round 2, FIH Junior Men World Cup and FIH World League Round Final.

The manner in which Hockey India has been successfully conducting International tournaments in the last few years, has helped them bag major events between 2014 -2018 which includes Champions Trophy which is slotted for later in the year and which includes FIH Women’s World League Round-2 and FIH Men’s World League Final in 2015, FIH Junior Men’s World Cup 2016, FIH Men’s World League Round Final in 2017 and FIH Senior Men’s World Cup in 2018. This effort towards ensuring that International tournaments being played in India helped Hockey India get this recognition by Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.

Hockey India even has to its credit of conducting 2 successful editions of Hockey India League in 2013 and 2014 which gave an opportunity to Indian players (capped as well as uncapped) to play with international players from different countries which helped them to learn and put into play. 

Hockey India has 27 Affiliated Members, 19 Associate Members and two members through State Olympic Association. Hockey India has been regularly holding National Championships since 2011 under men and women’s category at senior, junior and sub-junior levels. The 4th Hockey India National Championships 2014 are already underway. Besides this, Hockey India has also organised FIH-HI High Performance Coaching Course 2012-2015 and FIH Umpiring Seminar in 2012.

HI Press release