Subhechcha Ganguly 
Dilip Tirkey, a former hockey captain of India and a member of the team that won the gold medal at the Asian Games in 1998, was chosen as the new president of Hockey India (HI) on Friday after two other candidates who had submitted nominations withdrew before the vote.Tikey, a former defender who holds the record for most caps won, played in 412 international games during the course of a more than 15-year career. The 44-year-old legend from Odisha represented India at the 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, and 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
According to the timeline established by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the Committee of Administrators (CoA) in August, the Hockey India elections were expected to be finished by October 9. Prior to Tirkey being chosen as president, Hockey India was subject to the COA’s jurisdiction per the Delhi High Court’s directives due to an alleged infraction of the National Sports Code.Tirkey tweeted, “Thanks @DrSYQuraishi (COA member) & @FIH Hockey for conducting smooth elections of @TheHockeyIndia,” after being elected president of the national sports association. I’ll make sure Indian hockey progresses to new heights.
In its letter from Lausanne on Friday, the FIH congratulated Tirkey on being chosen as the head of Hockey India and said, “First and foremost, the FIH would like to thank the members of the Committee of Administrators for adhering to and seeing to it that the election process of Hockey India has been conducted smoothly. Through the Hockey India website and Indian media reports, the FIH has been keeping tabs on the election process. “We are pleased to observe that the Executive Board of Hockey India stands elected as has been posted on the Hockey India website as of today, and that the posts election was unanimous for all posts,” the organisation said. We are happy that the election process is over and that a democratic council has been installed.
The FIH stated, “We have appreciated the CoA’s effective efforts over the past few months to reinstate the democratically elected body in Hockey India. “We note that the CoA’s term has come to an end as of today, September 23, 2022, and that going forward, the FIH will now engage directly with the newly elected Executive Board for topics relevant to hockey in India. We want to express our gratitude for your efforts once more and hope that you will all be our guests for the future Hockey Pro League games, which are set to begin on October 28, 2022, and the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023, which is set to begin on January 13, 2023.
President Dilip Tirkey of the Hockey Association of Odisha; Vice-Presidents Asima Ali of Hockey Jammu & Kashmir; S.V.S. Subramanya of Hockey Karnataka; Secretary-General Bhola Nath Singh of Hockey Jharkhand; Treasurer Sekar J. Manoharan of the Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu; Joint Secretaries Ms. Arti Singh of Hockey Rajasthan; and Sunil Malik of Hockey Rajasthan are the other office holders (Hockey Haryana). Arun Kumar Saraswat (Hockey Rajasthan), Asrita Lakra (Hockey Jharkhand), Gurpreet Kaur (Hockey Delhi), V Sunil Kumar (Kerala Hockey), and Tapan Kumar Das are members of the executive board (Assam Hockey).
