Hockey India schedules election in July

New Delhi :

Having missed deadline several times in the past, Hockey India on Monday decided to hold its much-awaited election next month, while ratifying the affiliations of 33 units.

Hockey India president Vidya Stokes presided over the special general council meeting, also attended by Sports Ministry observer SPS Tomar, after which federation secretary Narinder Batra made the election announcement without confirming the date.

"The house unanimously decided to conduct the elections for the office-bearers in July," Batra said in a statement.

According to him, 70 representatives of 29 member units attended today's meeting in which the house unanimously ratified the affiliation granted to 25 states, including Punjab, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Goa.

Affiliation was also ratified for the four institutional boards -- Railways, Services, Universities and Air India.

"Ratification of affiliation was also granted to the states of Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, subject to the decision of their pending court cases," Batra said.

He said the national championships for both men and women would be held between December 2010-February 2011, preceded by sub-junior nationals.

Today's meeting also adopted constitutional amendments to facilitate admission of associate members, adoption of World Anti-Doping Agency code and five per cent representation for athletes with voting power.