BHUBANESWAR: Harendra Singh’s comments on the standard of officiating during India’s quarterfinal against The Netherlands might have potentially landed him in a soup. Both International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Narinder Batra and the body’s CEO Thierry Weil took exception to the matter while addressing a press conference on Saturday.
“It (questioning umpires’ decisions) is not acceptable,” Weil said. “We will not review anything (with respect to the decisions they made here). What we will review are the comments made against the umpires. That is not acceptable. A level of respect has to be there. If you lose, you have to accept it...”
Batra, who said he couldn’t comment on the matter as an FIH official, would air his views as an National Olympic Committee (NOC) official after going to New Delhi on the 17th. “I have to follow certain protocols as FIH president,” he said. “I have some views... very strong views... on this kind of behaviour.
A sport has to be played and respected like sport. After I get to New Delhi on the 17th, I intend to speak on the matter as NOC president.”
The Indian coach, after seeing his team go down 1-2 in the quarterfinals on Thursday, blamed the loss on several umpiring decisions. “Can anyone define Amit Rohidas’ 10-minute yellow card?” he asked. “What about this gentleman (pointing at Manpreet Singh), when he was pushed from behind? Why not a yellow card there? We have lost two major tournaments (including the Asian Games) this year because of umpiring.”
Decisions taken by fih on saturday
By end of February 2019, the world body will make final blueprint on how to spread hockey 5s throughout the world.
Junior World Cup will be held every second year
Will work on a new ranking system that is simple and allows every country to collect points.
An international calendar to be built for the next four years, including all the events of FIH with clear dates.
Venues for the next Junior World Cup (in 2021) and the senior World Cup (in 2022) will be announced by June 2019.