Narinder Batra resigns as president of world hockey body and IOA, cites personal reasons in resignation letter

Indian sports administrator Narinder Batra resigned as the president of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and also gave up his membership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Monday (July 18).

Batra ceased to be president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) when the Delhi High Court on May 25, struck down the post of 'Life member' in Hockey India, through which he contested the IOA elections and won back in 2017.

In three separate hand-written letters, Narinder Batra tendered his resignation from the IOA, the IOC and the FIH. In all the letters, Narinder Batra mentioned 'personal reasons' as the cause for his resignation.

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Batra's IOC membership was linked to the IOA presidency. However, his resignation from the FIH came as a surprise since he has reiterated in the past that he wants to focus on his job with the world hockey body.

The resignations come weeks after the Delhi High Court refused to stay an order through which Batra was restrained from discharging any function as the IOA president.

Earlier this year, Batra said he was extremely busy with international hockey activities and wouldn’t be able to devote time to the Olympic movement in India and did not run for the post of the presidency. He said in a statement:

“At a time when world hockey is going through an essential development phase, with the promotion of Hockey5s, the creation of a new competition this year – the FIH Hockey Nations Cup – and the launch of fan-engaging platforms and activities, my role as President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) requires more time for all these activities."

He also slammed the Indian men's hockey team for their below-par performances in the Asian Champions Trophy and some FIH Pro League matches.

The veteran sports administrator had emailed the national federation asking the reasons behind the below-par performances of the Indian team.

In a strongly-worded communication to HI President Gyanendro Ningombam, HI Secretary General Rajinder Singh and CEO Elena Norman, Narinder Batra said he has serious concerns about the team's performance after the historic bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

He also indicated that the team was being mismanaged but did not specify how. It will now be interesting to see who takes up the vacant positions.