New Delhi: Newly-elected president of Hockey India (HI), Dilip Tirkey chaired Monday the executive board meeting here.
The major focal point of the meeting was the upcoming FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup the matches of which will be played January 2023 in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. There were discussions also on reviving the grassroots programme particularly for junior and sub-junior categories.
“We had a very fruitful executive board meeting and among the many issues we discussed, the main agenda was the upcoming FIH World Cup. We also want to create awareness among children and the youth about the historic achievements in hockey both pre and post Independence. We also want youth to be more involved in the upcoming World Cup and discussed initiatives to ensure this,” Tirkey said after the meeting.
Padmashree and former India captain Tirkey also highlighted his plans to revive the grassroots structure in the country by introducing zonal-level tournaments for sub- junior and junior girls and boys.
“Particularly in the sub-junior and junior age groups, we have very few tournaments apart from the Hockey India annual championships. So, we will introduce more exposure tournaments such as zonal championships. The tournament will be divided into four zones, with two teams being selected from each zone who will fight for the title. We want to give more and more opportunities for this age group in order to catch them young and bring them into the national programme,” Tirkey stated.
Tirkey also passionately spoke of having a specialised training programme for goalkeepers and drag-flickers “We also discussed having special training for goalkeepers and dragflickers at the grassroots level,” Tirkey said.
“I also believe there is scope to revive the erstwhile Hockey India League (HIL) and we also discussed the potential in starting a league on similar lines for women. In all, it has been a good start and we look forward to working together towards development of hockey,” Tirkey signed off.
Among other HI office-bearers who attended the meeting were HI secretary-general Bhola Nath Singh, treasurer Sekar J Monoharan and some more officials.
