Hockey India president Narinder Batra was elected president of the international hockey federation (FIH) in Dubai on Saturday. He beat David Brinie of Ireland and Ken Read of Australia in a three-man race.
- Batra, who became the president of Hockey India in October 2014 after serving as secretary, had criss-crossed the globe to seek votes in the last few weeks.
Do you Know About Batra:
- Batra is the first Asian to become the chief of the sport, thus breaking the monopoly of Europeans who have been ruling international hockey for decades.
- Batra succeeds Spaniard Leandro Negre, who was the FIH chief since 2008. Negre had defeated Netherlands’ veteran hockey administrator Els van Breda Vriesman to become FIH supremo.
- Batra joins a select band of Indian sports administrators who have led world bodies, notable among them being International Cricket Council (ICC) president Jagmohan Dalmiya and Sharad Pawar.
- N Srinivasan became the first-ever ICC chairman and Shashank Manohar, who succeeded him, became the first elected chairman of the world cricket body.
- Others who have headed world bodies include N Ramachandran, the world squash body chief, and Janardhan Singh Gehlot, the founder president of International Kabaddi Federation.
- The moment Dr. Narinder Batra was announced as the new FIH President