New Delhi, 5th October 2018: Ice Hockey Association of India, the governing body of the Olympic Winter Sport – Ice Hockey in India, is member of the Indian Olympic Association and International Ice Hockey Federation. IHAI had its Annual General Assembly and Elections for the new Executive Council at Muse Sarovar Portico, New Delhi. Elections were conducted as per the guidelines of IOA and National Sports Code of Ministry of Sports, GOI in the presence of an IOA observer.
The newly elected council comprises Dr S M Bali as the President, who is also the current Joint Secretary of IOA. Mr. Harjinder Singh was re-elected as the General Secretary for another term. Mr. Harjinder Singh was also the Chef De Mission of the Indian Contingent at XXIII Winter Olympics at PyeongChang, Korea in February, 2018. The Vice President elected was Mr. N A Gyapo from Leh. Mr Gyapo has been at the helm of the nursery of Ice Hockey in Leh- Ladakh since the inception of the sport in India. Mr. Rajat Malhotra, an ex Indian player from Simla was elected as Joint Secretary. Maj. KJS Gurna ( retd.) is the new Treasurer. The 4 Members of Executive council are Mr. Gurpreet Singh Bakshi and 3 players – Mr. Tundup Namgail ( ex Indian Men’s Team Captain ), Mr. Amit Belwal and women representative Ms. Noor Jahan. Commendable is the fact that the 9 member Executive council has 4 athletes in the council, which is almost 45% representation
of athletes in an executive council of a sports regulating body. Also present as Special invitees were Col. N. Kumar ( retd.) PVSM, KC, AVSM, Padma Shri, Arjuna Awardee the Patron of IHAI and Mr. Akshay Kumar, Director- IHAI.
“The Indian Men’s team secured 2 nd position in the Challenge Cup of Asia in Kuwait, in 2017. The same year, the Indian Women’s team, which debuted internationally in 2016, won its first international match in 2017 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia in Thailand to secure 4 th place amongst 7 participants,” highlighted Mr. Singh, in his secretary report. He further emphasized that with financial support and infrastructural support, India could be in reckoning for a place in World Championship program of
IIHF in the coming years.
Furthermore, Dr. S M Bali, the newly elected President said, “all efforts would be made to get the only international ice rink at Dehradun opened, which would help the Indian Ice Hockey Team to train in the country, instead of going abroad for training”. He further stated that efforts would be made to get financial support from the corporate sector as well.