No comments from Gill, AHF announces new events

Fri, Jul 18 02:52 AM

KPS Gill came, attended the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) council meeting and he went, with no comments. But his presence was enough to trigger a media frenzy here, speculating on his continuation in AHF.

But it all boiled down to nothing. The AHF council meeting here was devoid of any drama despite the presence of Gill and Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the IOA ad-hoc committee and Mohammad Aslam Khan, the convenor of the committee.

In fact, even the actual number of teams qualifying from the ongoing junior Asia Cup here has been left undecided, because the criteria for allocating quota for Asia "is still under review with the FIH", and will be finalised only at its executive board meeting in Beijing during the Olympics. Neither did the presence of Gill at the meeting elicit any response from P Alagendra, secretary-general of the AHF.

"He is an elected member of the AHF council and in that capacity, he is eligible to attend the AHF meetings till his tenure ends in 2010," Alagendra said.

The council is also planning to hold two new tournaments next year to develop hockey in the continent. There are plans to host an Asian Champions Trophy for both men and women that will feature the top four teams from the Asia Cup. There will also be a six-match Asia versus Europe test series, with three matches in each continent.

The venue for next year's men's Asia Cup was also decided (Dubai), the event being a qualifying event for the 2010 World Cup.

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