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Bhubaneswar, Dec 13: Even as coaches and players of many participating teams have been critical of the current format of the Champions Trophy which doesn’t provide any reward to teams which perform well in the pool matches, International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Leonardo Negre Saturday justified the current format saying it is good for the promotion of hockey.
Negre explained that the current strategic plan of the FIH is to have as many viewers and fans as possible all over the world. “And for that the game must be suitable for TV,” he told reporters during a press conference here.
Talking about the current format, he said: “If at some point, say, we eliminate four teams, then it would mean that people of four countries will stop watching hockey. Also there won’t be any press coverage in those countries. That will not be a good promotion of hockey.”
He said that the current format with eight best teams of the world ensures surprises and doesn’t allow any team to be certain of their future.
“I love the surprises, because it is good for the public and viewers. And we need to sell what television likes,” he said adding that the tournament has seen fantastic performances in last few days as a result of recent changes the FIH has introduced.
“All of you agree that changes we make are in the best interest of the hockey. I mean, now the way we play hockey is much better than it was four years ago,” the FIH president said.
“We need to make our hockey very attractive for television. And now we have more followers than before because we changed the rules,” he added.
