India to host one world event every year: FIH

The FIH took the decision in its Executive Board meeting in New Delhi last week after the conclusion of the World Cup.

“The FIH Board agreed in principle to allocate one tournament for men or women per year to India for the next four years and the FIH hopes to attract commercial and television interest in these events,” the international body said in a statement on Monday.
“The Executive Board of FIH Board met in New Delhi on March 14 and 15 March at the end of a very good Hero Honda FIH World Cup. The Board was very pleased with the World Cup ,” it said.

During a media summit here earlier this month, FIH had accepted that India contributed a major chunk of revenue earned by the world body, which came mainly from television.
The decision, however, did not come as a surprise as FIH marketing manager Steven Morris had earlier declared  India would be an integral part of international body’s effort to lift the profile of hockey in the world.

Interestingly, during the World Cup FIH president Leandro Negre said India would also host the inaugural World Cup of clubs in December this year and the international federation had even roped in an Indian sponsor for the event.

FIH Executive Board had also discussed the probablity of starting a World Series competition from 2012 and a final call in this regard would be taken after studying the proposals from various committees during its next meeting in July, the statement said.

“The main agenda item of these fruitful meetings was on a new structure of the Executive Board to be presented at the next FIH Congress to be held in November 2010 in Montreux, Switzerland,” the release added.