A group of former Indian hockey players staged a protest in New Delhi backing Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey and calling for an ad-hoc committee to oversee the governing body amid growing administrative rifts.
Amid mounting internal rifts within Hockey India (HI), a group of former players has come forward to support federation president Dilip Tirkey, calling for urgent administrative reforms.
After being denied permission to express dissent inside the venue, former players held placards outside Gate No. 7 of the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi on Friday. The demonstration included 1984 Los Angeles Olympians Vineet Kumar and Romeo James, former women's team captain Asunta Lakra, and 1978 Asian Games silver-medallist Pramod Batlaw. Although legendary players Zafar Iqbal, V. Baskaran, and Ashok Kumar were part of the group backing Tirkey, they could not be present at the protest.
The governing body's internal friction came to a head on September 12 when Director General Cdr. R.K. Srivastava was stripped of his powers for non-compliance after traveling to the World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium against Tirkey's explicit directives. Discord deepened when Srivastava joined secretary general Bhola Nath Singh in Chandigarh to announce the men’s Asian Champions Trophy while Tirkey was meeting Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in New Delhi. On September 18, Bhola Nath called an emergent Executive Board meeting without Tirkey’s sanction.
Former captain Asunta Lakra, who joined Friday's protest, had earlier accused Bhola Nath of intimidating her after she raised objections regarding the alleged harassment of young girls in Jharkhand.
The dissenting group is demanding that an ad-hoc committee—consisting of former players, a retired judge or legal luminary, and an observer from the sports ministry or Sports Authority of India (SAI)—be appointed to run federation affairs until the next elections.
Highlighting the urgency for reform, Pramod Batlaw said, "There are people in HI who don’t know anything about the sport. They want to send Tirkey out and take all the powers."
Reporting sourced from The Hindu Hockey. Photo courtesy The Hindu Hockey.