AIPS ASIA News:

Muscat, Oman: On the occasion of the 49^th FIH Statutory Congress taking place in Muscat, Oman, on 9 November 2024, Tayyab Ikram was re-elected as FIH President.

 Reacting to his re-election, he said:  “My heart is full of gratitude for the trust you’ve placed in me. Many of you have told me that a lot has been achieved in the last 2 years, and that FIH is now much closer to you. However, today, I feel that this is my first day. You’ve given me a new start! I will continue this journey. It will be a time of engagement, a time of empowerment. Athletes are, and will remain, my first priority. They need to be at the centre of everything FIH does.”

Danae Andrada (URU), Alberto Daniel Budeisky (ARG) and Erik Cornelissen (NED) were re-elected and Katrin Kauschke (GER) elected as Ordinary Members of the FIH Executive Board. Before the election, Hazel Kennedy (ZAM) and Deon James Morgan (RSA) withdrew their candidature.

 As an additional sign confirming the steady growth of hockey worldwide, the Congress approved the application of no less than 6 new members, namely Bahrain, Chad, Curacao, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan and Senegal. This brings the overall number of FIH members to 146.

In his President’s report at the beginning of proceedings, Tayyab Ikram tackled numerous key strategic priorities, such as the FIH empowerment and engagement strategy, athletes’ welfare, hockey development or events. He highlighted specifically some of the major accomplishments of FIH since the last Congress:

·  Governance: FIH advancing in 5^th ASOIF Review

·  Events: Junior World Cup expanding to 24 teams; Nations Cup and Nations Cup 2 introduced, Hockey5s World Cup with much enhanced accessibility

·  Engagement: National Associations Summits

·  Commercial: Partnerships with Hero MotoCorp, Nike and Laureus

·  Social media performance during the Olympic Games Paris 2024: 31 million video views, 225.000 new followers and 125 million impressions

·  Sustainability: FIH winning 2024 IOC Climate Action Award

·  Olympic Solidarity: 60+ projects totaling over USD 2 million

The FIH President also announced the launch of a global mental health project for athletes, as well as the launch of athletes and development portals on FIH.hockey.

Other decisions:

·  The FIH audited accounts were submitted to Congress and subsequently approved

·  The appointment of Eduardo Mario Guelfand (Argentina) as Judicial Commission President was ratified

The recipients of Awards – including FIH Awards, FIH President’s Awards and Order of Merit, amongst others – were revealed (see full list of recipients here).

At the start of today’s Congress, IOC President Thomas Bach addressed the delegates specifically, via a video message.

Courtesy FIH