The day after the Women’s World Cup final was won by the Netherlands, at Terrassa, India Narinder Batra resigned from his position as president of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for personal reasons. He also stepped down as head of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) with immediate effect. The resignation letter, which was shared this morning by various Indian media, sent simultaneously to the FIH, IOA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – of which he is a member associated with his IOA presidency – has been shared by Indian media. In these letters, the world hockey strongman (65) cited “personal reasons” in all three cases and he thanked the organization for their “support and advice”.

Narinder Batra has been chairing the Indian Olympic Committee since 2017 and new elections were due to be held, last December, but these were postponed due to legal action claiming that IOA laws are incompatible with the National Sports Code and the Olympic Charter. The New Delhi High Court even ruled last month that Batra should stop acting as president of the IOA in a case related to his controversial position as a life member of Indian Hockey, the Indian Hockey Federation.

First appointed, in 2016, as chairman of the FIH, his first mandate was extended due to a health crisis that delayed elections. Batra was then re-elected in May last year, beating Marc Coudron by just two votes. The election which at that time raised a lot of comments and questions. This second term will end in 2024.

In recent months, Batra’s tenure as head of the IOA and FIH has been increasingly challenged and increasingly clear accusations that he is endangering the organization by running it simultaneously have been heard, in India and in Lausanne, the headquarters of the Hockey Federation. His position became even more untenable as time went on.

This afternoon, the FIH published a press release explaining that the Executive Committee will meet as soon as possible to appoint someone who will occupy the position until the next election to be held during the next congress which will be held virtually, on November 4 and 5. These details will be confirmed in the coming weeks.