New Delhi, October 10: Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey on Monday chaired the Executive Board meeting here. The major focal point of the meeting was the upcoming FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar-Rourkela 2023 in January as well as reviving the grassroots programme particularly for junior and sub junior categories.
“We had a very fruitful Executive Board meeting today and among many other important issues we discussed; the main agenda was the upcoming FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar-Rourkela 2023 which coincides with Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – India’s 75th year of independence,” said Tirkey.
Tirkey said that, “We want to create awareness among children and the youth about the historic achievements in hockey both pre and post-Independence. We also want youth to be more involved in the upcoming World Cup and discussed initiatives to ensure this.”
The meeting was attended by Secretary General Bhola Nath Singh, Treasurer Sekar J Monoharan, Vice President SVS Subramanya Gupta, Joint Secretary Aarti Singh, Joint Secretary Sunil Malik and Executive Board members Arun Kumar Sarswat, Asrita Lakra, Gurpreet Kaur, V Sunil Kumar and Tapan Kumar Das.
The former India Captain Tirkey also highlighted his plans to revive the grassroots structure in the country by introducing zonal-level tournaments for sub junior and junior girls and boys.
“Particularly in this (sub-junior and junior) age group, we have fewer tournaments apart from the Hockey India Annual Championships. So, the plan is to introduce more exposure tournaments such as zonal championships. The tournament will be divided into four zones, with two teams being selected from each zone,” said Tirkey.