Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The Asian Games entered its sixth day of action on Friday, September 25, with India chasing medals and looking to add to its growing tally. Amid the medals and historic moments in Nagoya, hockey may have taken a back seat in the larger Asian Games picture, but the sport remained firmly in focus.
On the field, the Indian women’s hockey team continued its impressive run, beating hosts Japan 3-1. Unlike some of their earlier outings, India had to grind out the result, but did enough to maintain their unbeaten start. With a place in the semi-finals now in sight, the team remains firmly in contention for a medal.
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Back home, however, the picture was far less rosy.
The ongoing power struggle within Hockey India threatened to overshadow the team’s performances on the field. A bitter tussle between HI president Dilip Tirkey and secretary general Bhola Nath Singh has dominated the sport’s headlines, with the dispute taking several turns over the past few weeks.
On Friday, the simmering discontent boiled over as former India captains and hockey legends staged a protest outside the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. Their message was clear: Hockey India needs a clean-up.
What began with the controversy over the jersey change ahead of the Hockey World Cup soon escalated. Tirkey later dismissed Director General R.K. Srivastava and reminded Bhola Nath of his authority within the federation.
The situation took another turn when the Hockey India president filed a police complaint against Srivastava and other federation officials, alleging “criminal breach of trust, theft, endangerment of life and wrongful abandonment”.
For hockey legends Pramod Batlaw, Ashok Diwan, Romeo James and Asunta Lakra, it was a breaking point.
They believed the sport needed a reset, and that the change had to begin within the federation itself. At the heart of their demand was a greater role for former players in decision-making and an end to what they described as the growing influence of non-hockey personnel.
WHAT DID THE LEGENDS DEMAND?
The protest was held outside the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi, a venue named after the man who helped define Indian hockey on the world stage.
In the hot and humid conditions on Friday, the legends arrived together, carrying placards and making their presence felt without much noise. They were not allowed to enter the stadium and instead gathered outside the venue to put forward their demands.
Security personnel repeatedly asked them to identify themselves. Asunta Lakra responded: “Such is the state of our sport that we have to tell who we are despite being former captains and legends.”
Among the placards they carried, one stood out: “Hockey ka ABCD pata nahi, ban gaya Secretary (Don’t know anything about hockey, but became the secretary.)”
The message was aimed at Hockey India secretary Bhola Nath, whose alleged harassment and intimidation of Lakra has emerged as one of the flashpoints in the wider dispute within the federation.
The broader demands of the legends were laid out in a memorandum addressed to Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, a copy of which India Today accessed.
In the memorandum, the former players raised concerns over alleged governance failures and non-compliance with the National Sports Development Code, 2025, in Hockey India.
They called for the dissolution of the existing Executive Committee and the appointment of an ad hoc committee comprising former India players and Olympians, along with a retired judge or legal expert and representatives of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Sports Authority of India as observers. The proposed committee would oversee the federation’s affairs and conduct fresh elections within six months.
The former players also demanded strict implementation of the Sports Code, including age and tenure limits, mandatory 25 per cent athlete representation in the executive body, annual compliance and recognition requirements, and elections conducted by an independent election officer.
They also urged the ministry to address what they described as the circumvention of cooling-off rules, with office bearers moving between different national sports federations. Their demand was for the cooling-off period to apply across all NSFs, preventing officials who have completed their permitted tenure in one federation from taking office in another during that period.
The memorandum further urged the ministry to make Hockey India’s recognition and funding conditional on full compliance with the Sports Code.
If accepted, the demands would significantly alter the existing power structure within Hockey India.
For Batlaw, the argument is straightforward: former players and internationals understand the sport and should have a greater role in running it.
“Teachers teach in the college. Engineers run the industry. Judges run the courts. How can hockey be run by non-hockey players? The vision is not there. Hockey is going down, murdered. We are eighth or ninth in the World Cup. Asian hockey isn’t at its best, so becoming Asian Games winners won’t mean anything.”
“So what we are saying is that hockey players, veterans, bring them inside. Give them the vision. Let them run hockey. Take the vision from them only, then hockey can be run,” said Batlaw.
The legends are also looking beyond Delhi. Batlaw said the movement could spread to the states if their demands are not addressed.
“Now we will start doing in the states. State agitation. We will do state agitation, send the message, and we will raise this because now we want hockey to come up.”
TRUST IN TIRKEY
One of the biggest questions surrounding the proposed overhaul is where Dilip Tirkey fits into it.
If an ad hoc committee is appointed, Tirkey would lose his current position as Hockey India president. Yet the legends have made it clear that their support for the former India captain remains intact.
Since Tirkey took charge, the men’s team won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics and lifted the 2025 Asia Cup. The legends want him to return through a fair election and believe his long-term vision can still play a role in Indian hockey.
“We are with Dilip Tirkey. He is a hockey player and an Olympian. He is a Padma Shri. We will always be with him. He cannot do wrong work. We take the guarantee of this,” said Diwan.
“We want to meet him back over here and then we want to see his vision back again, what we are speaking. He had to act like… simple. If you act like that, hockey will improve,” said Batlaw.
ENDING THE DISRESPECT
For the legends, the dispute is not only about positions and power. They also want what they describe as disrespect towards former players to end.
The alleged comments made by Bhola Nath towards Lakra have become a particularly sensitive issue, with the former India captain saying the threat she received should be seen as a warning to players across the country.
“She was the one to whom Bholanath said, ‘we will show you your place.’ He is not supposed to talk to her as she is a former hockey captain of the Indian team.
“So what is he then? Bholanath is a secretary and he is saying, I will show you your place, and he threatened her,” said James.
Lakra, who was at the heart of the controversy, believes the issue goes beyond her. She said the alleged threat was effectively aimed at players, past and present, and that safeguards need to be put in place to prevent such incidents from happening again.
“For me, it is very, very sad. Not just for me, but for all the players in India. I was threatened through an individual WhatsApp call, but I believe it is a threat to all the players of India. I feel that we should pay a little attention to these things so that such things do not happen with other players in the future, especially with women, because we are seeing and hearing something or the other back to back.”
“This should not happen. It should stop. So, on this basis, I would like to say that this should be stopped and Indian hockey should be taken to a higher level,” said Lakra.
The former India captain is also awaiting the outcome of the investigation into her complaint against Bhola Nath and believes the process could provide clarity.
“When the commission formed a committee and announced it, I felt that yes, work is being done on the complaint that I made and special attention is being given to it. I hope that soon we will see the result of it. That is my hope,” said Lakra.
As the legends slowly dispersed from outside the iconic stadium, there was little ambiguity over what they wanted next.
For them, the protest was not about the Asian Games team, its players or its performances. It was about who gets to shape the future of Indian hockey.
And Batlaw’s final message to the current power structure was blunt.
“They have to go. Simple. They have to go,” said Batlaw.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
