Hockey India CEO Elena Norman steps down citing unpaid salaries, internal conflict; Hockey Federation responds

Earlier Janneke Schopman resigned as women’s hockey coach.

Elena Norman, the long-standing CEO of Hockey India, has resigned after holding the post for almost 13 years. She cited “unpaid dues and a difficult working environment” as the reasons for her resignation. This comes close on the heels of the resignation of women’s coach Janneke Schopman, who stated that she was not valued by the Hockey India officials.

Norman expressed her concerns about the internal conflict within Hockey India. She mentioned two factions within the organization, one including herself and the president, Dilip Tirkey, and the other including the secretary, Bholanath Singh, the executive director, RK Srivastava, and the treasurer, Sekar J Manoharan. She stated, “It was getting tough to deliver in the fight between two factions.”

Norman was perturbed by the fact that she had not been paid her wages for the last three months and was not being consulted on important decisions.

Hockey India also came out with its response to the Saga which involves Janneke Schopman as well as Elena Norman, stating that their primary objective as an organization has been and continues to remain the welfare and progress of the sport of Hockey and their athletes. They emphasized their focus on growing their talent, ensuring all hosted events are conducted with utmost professionalism, and their national teams are receiving the best support to enhance their performance on the global stage.

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They also addressed the claims of divisions within the organization, stating, “This is not correct. We remain united in working together, and as always in the best interest of the sport.” They assured that the Federation has treated the teams and all players equally with equal benefits and training facilities, including cash awards and monetary recognition that is at par and is purely based on performance.

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