Newly appointed president of the International Hockey Federation, Narinder Batra, speaks during the 45th FIH Congress on November 12, 2016 in Dubai, UAE. Tom Dulat / Getty Images
Newly appointed president of the International Hockey Federation, Narinder Batra, speaks during the 45th FIH Congress on November 12, 2016 in Dubai, UAE. Tom Dulat / Getty Images

New International Hockey Federation president Narinder Batra wants to ‘take our sport to a higher level’



DUBAI // Narinder Batra, the new president of the International Hockey Federation (FIH), has promised to increase the “reach and revenue” of world hockey as he becomes the first Asian chief of the Lausanne-based federation.

Batra, the chief of Hockey India, cruised to a landslide victory in elections held here on Friday, the final day of the FIH Congress, becoming the first Indian to head the world governing body of an Olympic sport. He received 68 of the 118 votes in the three-candidate race, with Ireland’s David Barbernie coming a distant second (29 votes). Australia’s Ken Read was third with 13 votes, while eight of the voters abstained.

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“It is definitely an honour to be the first Indian to be president of any Olympic sport,” Batra said, the first Asian to become head of the FIH. “I feel humbled. It makes me feel that I have a greater responsibility and I would certainly like to live up to the expectations our hockey family has shown in me, and try to take our sport to a higher level.”

Batra, who replaces Spaniard Leandro Negre as head of the FIH, will lead the sport through the next phase of the organisation’s 10-year Hockey Revolution strategy, which includes the FIH’s exciting new Event Portfolio, details of which were revealed on the first day of the FIH Congress here at the Intercontinental hotel in Dubai Festival City.

“The FIH has such a well-oiled machinery to run the sport, so I don’t think I am required to sit at the office,” said Batra, who will now have to step down as chief of Hockey India after a hugely successful reign.

“So instead, I will focus on increasing the revenue and reach of the sport. That will be my goal and I can assure you, you we will not disappoint on the revenue front.

“We have to also focus on popularising the game among the audience. We want to telecast more games on TV. Unless people see more matches the game will not become popular. These are the things we have tried in India and have succeeded.

“We need to bring hockey to the level of cricket and football. Unlike football or cricket, our hockey players are not full-time professionals. They are professionals from various other fields, who manage their time to play the game. Their salaries are deducted when they play for the national team.

“These are some of the problems I want to address when I say I want to increase the reach and revenue of world hockey. Our hockey players should feel secure and believe they can make a career out of hockey.”

Generating greater revenues will be crucial for the FIH’s hopes of attracting even more nations to their fold and of improving the hockey facilities in these countries.

With the addition of five new members – Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Swaziland, Nicaragua and Colombia the FIH now has 137 national associations as full members and hope to increase that number to 152 by 2024.

However, only 31 of the current national associations boast FIH-certified turf pitches. Batra’s mandate will be to increase that number substantially during the next four years.

“If we have to grow, then the geographical boundaries of our sport need to grow first. We have a very good lot of 12-14 countries, but it now needs to expand to maybe 25-30 countries. We need to have a bigger base, a bigger viewership, so we need to concentrate on TV and other social media to expand the scope of the game.”

In their bid to increase the reach of hockey, the FIH, in association with the Dubai Sports Council, have already opened a regional office in the emirate in association with the Dubai Sports Council, which should provide a boost to the sport in the UAE.

“We want to see a growth in all regions and the GCC is no exception,” Batra said. “We want to see growth in Africa, we want to see growth in the PanAm region, in Oceania. So our vision is global, it will not be restricted to any particular regions.”

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