The Hindu : Sport : Pressure on K.P.S. Gill to resign

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Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008
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Pressure on K.P.S. Gill to resign

Special Correspondent

IOA may take up suspension of IHF

NEW DELHI: With the Union Sports Minister, M.S. Gill, urging him to step down, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) contemplating suspension of the federation and Parliamentarians calling for stern action, pressure mounted on Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) President K.P.S. Gill on Tuesday to resign from his post.

The Sports Minister said that the incident on television on Monday night (of IHF Secretary K. Jothikumaran accepting money) was most unfortunate.

Mr M.S. Gill said that in the ‘totality of the situation’ the IHF President must also introspect and review his position.

“I urge him to consider withdrawing from his current responsibility. It is time to let other Indians make an attempt to lift our hockey.”

Condemning the incident

The IOA, which had sprung to the defence of the IHF immediately after the Santiago debacle that saw India failing to gain an Olympic slot for the first time in 80 years, condemned the “alleged incident” involving Jothikumaran.

The IOA has convened an emergency meeting of its Executive Committee on April 28 to “look into this matter and take necessary action in the interest of sports.”

What was left unsaid in the IOA press release was there was growing concern within the IOA about the affairs of hockey for quite some time.

That concern, coupled with the latest developments, has brought back the question of a possible suspension of the IHF that many had demanded immediately after the Santiago disaster.

The then Sports Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, had pleaded his helplessness because of the protection that National federations enjoyed under the Olympic Charter, while the IOA deemed it its duty to defend Mr. K.P. S. Gill and his team in their hour of isolation.

Changing situation

The situation has changed since then. It is no longer “performance” of the sport that is in the spotlight but “trust and faith in fair selection”, as the Sports Minister put it in his statement.

With the International Hockey Federation (FIH) unhappy with the functioning of the IHF, especially with regard to the preparations for Delhi hosting the 2010 World Cup, the IOA move could gain momentum, provided the top hierarchy is prepared to take the plunge.

Significant move

The IOA is not known for taking any extreme step, especially in the case of frontline Olympic sports, but the very fact that an emergency meeting had been convened is in itself significant.

More often than not, faction-fights lead to IOA’s suspension of a National Federation with an IOA-appointed ad hoc body taking over the conduct of the sport. This is within the rules and regulations of international sports structure.

In this case, there could be a few ticklish legal questions since the FIH is supposed to be dealing with the Indian Hockey Confederation (IHC) that is headed by Mr. K.P.S. Gill.

The IOA’s affiliated units are the IHF and the IWHF (Indian Women’s Hockey Federation). There are other legal issues also that the IHF is involved in.

What eventually transpires at the April 28 meeting is anybody’s guess, but the television expose has revived the topic of suspension.

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