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Published : Jan 17, 2025 18:55 IST , Leh – 10 MINS READ
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The turn of the New Year brought devastating news for Ladakh’s ice hockey players after the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) decided against sending the men’s team to the Winter Asian Games in China in February.
“On examination of Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) proposal by Sports Authority of India (SAI), it has been found that many of the names recommended by IOA do not have any international exposure or have international rankings/performances,” the letter from the Union Sports Ministry to the IOA read.
From a list of 76 athletes (54 men and 22 women), only 35 (19 men and 16 women) were given the go-ahead by the Ministry. Athletes axed were from sports like snowboarding (4), ski mountaineering (8) and men’s ice hockey team (23).
“It may be noted that participation of sportspersons in multi-sport events is not for providing international exposure or merely for participation purposes,” the letter added.
The entire men’s ice hockey team hails from Ladakh while 18 of the 20 in the women’s squad come from the Union Territory. The developments have left both in a state of limbo.
“We felt helpless. It felt like your body part was being taken away,” a member of the Indian men’s team tells Sportstar on the condition of anonymity. He was also part of the last India squad that played an official ice hockey match over six years ago.
“It will definitely be a huge disappointment for us – who may or may not be going – but also for the entire region, the way people here have taken the sport to their heart. Even local governments are putting money into it,” another India international adds.
“As a nation, we’ve been allowed to participate. If we don’t go, we won’t get invited any more because we failed to show up.”
The Sports Ministry’s policy is set in stone: teams ranked in the top eight of a sport will be allowed to participate in the Asian Games — summer or winter — keeping potential medal prospects in mind. But there have been multiple instances when special exemptions have been made.
The Indian men’s football team, placed 18th in Asia, was allowed to compete at the Hangzhou Summer Games in 2023 courtesy the nod from the Centre, but failed to impress with a round of 16 exit.
Meanwhile, the Indian Lawn Bowls team ceased their opportunity at the Commonwealth Games in 2022. The women’s fours team won India’s first gold medal in the discipline, and the men’s fours team won the silver medal.
The Indian men’s ice hockey team, however, has been non-existent in the record books for the last half of the decade, falling out of contention for rankings.
Its last tournament was the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) Asia and Oceania Championship in March 2018, wherein it beat Macau 3-0 before losing to Indonesia (2-4) and Malaysia (1-10).
“After that, COVID came in 2019 and the tournament also shut down,” a national team player laments.
The IIHF World Ranking system uses a four-year cycle. The points earned in one year decline linearly within the next three years and in the fifth year, results are dropped from the calculation altogether.
The Championship was the only major tournament for the men’s team that year and not participating there dashed India’s hopes of rankings since.
This year, the side was invited alongside Macau for the Asiad.
“As per the ranking of IIHF Under-18, we are number 6. Maybe that was some of the calculations they did as their invitation came to us from the IIHF and the Olympic Council of Asia,” Harjinder Singh, the general secretary of the Indian Ice Hockey Association (IIHA) of India told Sportstar.
“Most of the criteria which have been specified in the government notifications of 2015 are about summer sports. Winter sports are definitely in the development stage in Asia.
“It’s been very categorically put across in the notification of the Sports Authority of India, relating to the Olympic Games, Commonwealth and Asian Games,” Harjinder, who was also the Chef de Mission of the Beijing Winter Games in 2022, added.
IOA Chief P. T. Usha had also replied along the same lines to the Sports Ministry, in a letter dated January 8.
“Such criteria (international participation or being among the top three rankings of individual/team events), if applied, undermine the very purpose of promoting winter sports in the country,” she wrote.
“Moreover, implementing such requirements just 30 days before the games is unfair to the athletes and contrary to their aspirations.”
Ice hockey has always been a sport popular in the Indian Army at higher altitudes. However, India’s largely tropical climate means the its popularity stopped with the regions around Himalayas.
“I don’t want to comment on that (the team’s exclusion), it’s a very sensitive issue. But whoever is managing ice hockey, it is not happening efficiently and the same number of seven or eight teams have been playing for a decade without any increase in the number of teams in the name of national championships,” a government official closely associated with the Ice Hockey Federation tells Sportstar on the condition of anonymity.
The IIHA’s top brass—the president and vice president—are not from Ladakh. The president is Surinder Mohan Bali, a name known more in handball circles than those in ice hockey.
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, in a letter to the Centre on December 21, had also questioned the representation of Ladakh in the IIHA, misuse of funds and the credibility of the body.
“The local stakeholders are being denied representation at the national level. The concerned people need to be taken on board or some sort of reforms need to be there. I think the government of India should do something about it,” says a local stakeholder.
India has been a full member of IIHF since 1989 but has failed to garner consistent support from the Centre, depending mostly on crowdfunding and good samaritans.
The IHAI is not a recognised National Sports Federation (NSF) while another body, the Ice Hockey Federation of India — one formed by the Ladakhis — is recognised as a National Sports Promotion Organisation. Former Union Sports Ministry Anurag Thakur placed this on record in the Lok Sabha.
In 2015, the men’s team raised Rs. 12 lakh to travel to Kuwait for the Challenge Cup of Asia Division I. The outfit evolved from a last-place finish in that edition to winning silver two years later.
The women’s team, on the other hand, relied on social media to raise Rs. 32 lakh in 2017 to travel for the IIHF Asia and Oceania Championship.
The following year, four-time Winter Olympic gold medallist in ice hockey, Hayley Wickenheiser visited Leh along with National Hockey League veteran Andrew Ference, teaching tricks of the game and donating equipment to aspiring players in the region.
A post shared by Hayley Wickenheiser (@hchickwick)
Within a year, the women struck bronze in the tournament in 2019.
Their zeal remains, despite all obstacles, the most recent example being the Royal Enfield Ice Hockey League, which featured nearly 100 female players. Maryul Spamo defended the title.
However, excluding the men’s team will have a domino effect on the growth of the sport, for both men and women, feels Noor Jahan, India’s former women’s team goalkeeper.
“We know Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) himself said he wants to promote winter sports and if you are axing your teams like this, you’re not going to grow the sport,” Noor tells Sportstar.
Noor Jahan | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
“We speak about (realising) this Olympic dream (2042 Winter Olympics), but that is not going to get fulfilled if we don’t participate in the Asian Championship.”
For now, the only possibility remains a last-minute clearance from the government for the men’s team, with the Winter Asian Games barely 20 days away.
“If we are doing Khelo India Winter Games, the purpose goes amiss if we don’t get to go for the Asian Winter Games,” Harjinder says.
“We had a positive meeting with the Sports Ministry yesterday and we have explained the situation. Hopefully, by today (January 17), we should be in a position to get positive feedback from them.”
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