New Delhi, Feb 28: Following the resignations of women's team head coach Janneke Schopman and the governing body's CEO Elena Norman, Hockey India issued a statement saying that the objective of the body is the progress of the sport, its athletes and also added that the organisation aims to work unitedly for the best interest of the game.

Schopman, chief coach of the Indian women's hockey team, resigned from her post on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Hockey India released an official statement to announce Schopman's resignation, which read, "The Dutch coach submitted her resignation to Hockey India President Padma Dilip Tirkey after the conclusion of the Indian Women's Hockey Team's outing in the home leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League in Odisha."

Days after her resignation, Norman, who was the CEO of Hockey India for almost 13 years, also resigned from her position. These resignations came after statements made by Schopman and Norman to the media about the alleged difficulties of working with the federation.

Following the resignations, HI issued an joint statement by President Dr Dilip Tirkey and Secretary General Bhola Nath Singh, rubbishing the allegations made by the former coach and outgoing CEO, saying that, "Recently there have been statements by outgoing officials published in the media, claiming that there are divisions within the organization. This is not correct. We remain united in working together, and as always in the best interest of the sport."

"Hockey India is an autonomous and professional body dedicated to the development of Indian Hockey. Our primary objective as an organisation has been and continues to remain the welfare and progress of the sport of Hockey and our athletes," continued the statement.

The governing body of the sport said that its entire focus is on "growing our talent" and added that the events conducted by the governing body of the game is done with "utmost professionalism" and both men's and women's teams are receiving the "best support" for their performances globally.

Hockey India also said that the ongoing year is the year of Paris Olympics 2024 and it wants to aid the men's national team, which has qualified for the multi-sport extravaganza, through required support to gain a podium position, following a Bronze medal during Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

"We will continue in this pursuit of excellence and rebuild the Women's team with a fresh approach to providing the right infrastructure and training to enhance their performance. In addition to this, we are cognisant of this being an Olympic year and are dedicated to aiding the National Men's Team with the required support to stand on the podium yet again in the forthcoming Olympic Games in Paris this year," added the statement.

The Federation said that it 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.

"We have built our ethos around equity and equal opportunities right from the grassroots levels across states as well as on a national level. We now seek the ongoing support of ardent hockey fans to continue to back what is important - the teams and the players like they have always done in this important year. And we look forward to keeping our entire focus on the task at hand," concluded Hockey India. (ANI)

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