Hockey India Conducts Online Workshops as Part of the Induction Program for the New Technical Officials in Hockey India Officiating System

New Delhi: After the launch of the open application submission system for registration of Hockey Coaches and Technical Officials in India on the Hockey India Member Unit Portal in July earlier this year, a number of candidates submitted their application to register as an Umpire or a Technical Official. Among the applications, Hockey India has shortlisted 124 candidates as per its eligibility criteria after they were nominated by their respective registered state member units.

Hockey India is currently organizing a set of online workshops as part of the induction program for the shortlisted candidates. The workshops are being organized from 12 September 2020 – 10 October 2020. After the completion of the workshops, further shortlisted candidates will become a part of Hockey India potential list who will then be eligible to be appointed for the upcoming Hockey India sanctioned Sub-Junior and Junior category tournaments. The online workshops are being conducted by experienced Hockey India Technical Delegates, Umpire Managers and Umpires.

With respect to the Umpires, Hockey India will be conducting fitness tests within their respective states, once the current health crisis improves, with the help of the State member units and active Umpire Managers/ Technical Delegates. Once the Umpires clears the tests then they will be added to the Hockey India Potential List for national tournament appointments.

The candidates shortlisted from the various applications received through the open registration for Technical Officials have been divided into two groups – Group 1 and Group 2 who have been further divided into role-specific groups. There are 29 candidates for the Technical Officials workshop and 33 candidates for the Umpire workshop in Group 1, and there are 28 candidates for the Technical Officials workshop and 34 candidates for the Umpire workshop in Group 2. The candidates will be attending core workshops on the weekends and they have been further divided into smaller groups for workshops based on specific skills during the weekdays.

Speaking on the induction process for the new Umpires and Technical Officials in the Hockey India officiating system, Mr. Gyanendro Ningombam, Officiating President, Hockey India said, “It’s fantastic to welcome fresh Officials into the Hockey India officiating system which will, in turn, help us create a bigger pool of talent. I am sure that the online workshops will be a huge guiding factor for the candidates, who will be starting a journey of their own in the world of Officiating in Hockey. The huge response in terms of the number of applications we have received through the open application system has been very overwhelming. I wish the new Technical Officials all the very best for their career.”