Resignation of Narinder Batra as FIH President - Explained, Impact on Indian Hockey and aftermath

International hockey and the Indian hockey community were shocked by the sudden resignation of FIH President Narinder Batra, who also resigned from the post of President of the Indian Olympic Association.

While the international community was more pleased with Batra going from FIH, it will be tough for Indian hockey lovers to digest this resignation as Batra saw the revival of Hockey in India after one dark period. Hockey India emerged from the ashes of the Indian Hockey Federation in 2008 and things started improving from infrastructure to management to facilities and eventually the performance on the field and it was Mr Batra at the helm of all these developments.

Narinder Batra had his flaws and lots of them but his good work for Indian hockey, the players and the game can't be ignored.

The Bridge sat down with Jimmy Bhogal from Give Me Hockey to understand and decode what has happened and what will be the impact of it.

Here are excerpts from the conversation-

What is this whole saga of Narinder Batra resigning from everywhere? Can you explain?

Former Olympian, Aslam Sher Khan had filed a petition in Delhi High Court challenging the lifetime appointment of Narinder Batra and Elena Norman as a life member and CEO, respectively. Being a Life Member granted Batra voting rights and unlimited tenure. The Sports Code of India says the posts like Life President and Life Member in National Sporting Federations are illegal and Delhi High Court struck down these posts. With Batra ceasing to be a Life Member of Hockey India, his association as IOA President and FIH president came into jeopardy because all the associations for these organizations were due to Hockey India. The pressure was mounting, and he had to resign.

Batra has done a lot for Indian hockey, was he able to replicate that as president of FIH?

No, not with the impact he had in India. Batra is known for his networking and his networking was able to help run hockey in India effectively. He was unable to extend that to the world level. Running world hockey and Indian hockey is different considering the requirement of each nation. Batra was gunning for the commercialization of hockey which did not go well with hockey purists. FIH today has just three sponsors who are paying FIH cash (or money) and all three are from India. Two of them have been brought in by Batra. Asian and African hockey is still struggling, only European hockey is rising, and it was continuing to do so even before Batra became FIH president.

With Batra not being at the helm of FIH, how does it affect Hockey India?

Hockey India currently has its issues that it needs to resolve, conducting elections and forming a new committee is the major issue. FIH will continue to rely on Hockey India and Indian hockey because India is the only source of income available for hockey today. FIH's all major sponsors are from India, FIH is not going to discard Indian hockey especially when they are running low on funds.

What does this mean to IOA? Will He try to get back to using Hockey India again?

This is my theory. I am not too sure of what his intentions are. People I spoke to today about this were also not too sure what he intends to do. Hockey India laws say that he cannot run again for any HI post for some time (this needs to be checked). He will have to go through a different organization if he wants to be back in IOA. Currently, the road seems difficult for him to return to IOA.

How is the international hockey community responding to this?-

The majority of fans were happy with Batra's resignation, however, but the Indian hockey community have not taken this news well. Whatever Batra has done for hockey in India is well known and hockey fans certainly like him for that. Indian hockey with Batra at the helm has improved by ten folds. Yes, Batra has his drawbacks (and a lot of them) but this is outweighed by the excellent work done by him over the years for Indian hockey.

Indian hockey has certainly come a long way from pay issues, and lack of sponsors to challenging the best in the world and finishing on the podium in the Olympics. The absence of an administrator who oversaw the change in Indian hockey will definitely be felt and Hockey India needs to solve their issues and move forward with their elections.