LAUSANNE -- The FIH Executive Board concluded two days of meetings on Saturday in Lausanne and came away with several noteworthy decisions and updates.
The hosts and dates for the 2012 Olympic Qualification Tournaments were approved. The three men’s tournaments will be hosted by India, Ireland and Japan, while the three women’s events will be in India, Belgium and Japan. The final Olympic team will be qualified on May 6.
In addition to the London Qualifiers, the World League was the other primary topic on the competitions side. The dates of the four-round event, along with the format are beginning to take shape. The Competitions Committee was given the mandate to proceed with the planning for the World League.
As part of the meeting, representatives from the five Continental Federations were also in attendance and gave reports to the Board on the progress of the Memorandum of Understanding and agreed to extend the MoU for another two years. The Continental Federation representatives also held a separate day-long meeting prior to the Executive Board presentation.
The Executive Board also confirmed the status of Hockey India as the recognized Federation in India after receiving a detailed report from Mr. Narinder Batra, Secretary General of Hockey India. Hockey India confirmed its intention to organize a Professional Hockey League in India beginning January 2013. The Board re-enforced that the World Series event is an unsanctioned league.
Good progress was also reported on Project Brazil and the youth Olympic Games in Nanjing 2014. which is planning to feature a Complementary Game.
Finally, the Executive Board approved two new appointments to FIH Committees, Ana Consuelo Tuero Vigil (ESP) was named as a member of the Appointments Committee and Lim Chow Chuan joins the Athlete’s Committee.
