Former India captain Dilip Tirkey, who was the front-runner for the post of Hockey India president, was elected unopposed for the top job on Friday.
Hockey India elections were scheduled to be held on October 1 but the results were declared in advance as there were no contestants for any of the posts, paving the way for the incumbent candidates to be elected unopposed as per the federation's Constitution.
Tirkey was elected after Uttar Pradesh Hockey chief Rakesh Katyal and Hockey Jharkhand's Bhola Nath Singh, who were in the fray for the president's post, withdrew their nominations on Friday.
Bhola Nath has been elected unopposed as secretary general.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has approved Tirkey and his team's appointments.
In a letter, the FIH said that when the number of contesting candidates for any post is equal to or less than the number of posts, they shall be deemed to have been elected unopposed as per election by-laws on the Hockey India website.
Thanks @DrSYQuraishi & @FIH_Hockey for conducting smooth elections of @TheHockeyIndia. I will ensure that Indian hockey reaches to new heights.@CMO_Odisha @Media_SAI @IndiaSports pic.twitter.com/romj3xJQwR
- Dilip Kumar Tirkey (@DilipTirkey) September 23, 2022
"Therefore, we are pleased to observe that the Executive Board of Hockey India stands elected as has been put on the website of Hockey India and that the posts election was unanimous for all posts," it said.
The other non-contested members of Hockey India are Asima Ali (vice president) of Hockey Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka's SVS Subramanya Gupta (vice president), Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu's Sekar J Manoharan (treasurer), Hockey Rajasthan's Arti Singh (joint secretary) and Hockey Haryana's Sunil Malik (joint secretary).
The five executive board members are Arun Kumar Sarswat (Hockey Rajasthan), Asrita Lakra (Hockey Jharkhand), Gurpreet Kaur (Delhi Hockey), V Sunil Kumar (Kerala Hockey) and Tapan Kumar Das (Assam Hockey).
Since May, Hockey India was under three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) after the governing body was found to be in violation of the National Sports Code. The Delhi High Court appointed former Supreme Court judge Anil R Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner Dr. SY Quraishi and former national team captain and Moscow Olympics gold medallist Zafar Iqbal to run the sport.
India will host the upcoming Men's World Cup in 2023, with matches taking place in Odisha's Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.