KPS smiles, but panel unmoved

Some state associations, it seems, are switching allegiance to KPS Gill, the former Indian Hockey Federation president, reports Sahil Sharma.

Some state associations, it seems, are switching allegiance to KPS Gill, the former Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president. A case in point is Haryana, which is conducting the North Zone Championship from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3 under his "patronage", despite the IHF being dissolved and replaced by the Indian Olympic Association's ad hoc committee.

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Rather than following the procedure of taking permission for a tournament, the state body has just "informed" the panel of its plans. "We have sent the tournament details to the ad hoc committee," said Sunil Malik, general secretary, Haryana Hockey Association. "There is no need to take permission from a body we don't recognise. The ad hoc committee is ruining hockey and the government is also to blame," said Gill.

The ad hoc committee said it did not recognise the meet and labelled it "illegal". "We haven't received any information or official letter and we don't recognise it," said Mohammed Aslam, ad hoc committee convener.

On whether the panel would authorise its umpires and officials to officiate, umpiring committee chairman, Shakeel Qureshi said, "We didn't receive any request for umpires and those officiating are not authorised to do so."

For the record, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Patiala, Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab are taking part in the event at Gurgaon's Nehru Stadium. Sources said Gill had also made attempts to conduct the south, east and west zone championships, but was not successful. But given his influence on associations in the north, his efforts bore fruit.