The National Game of India, Hockey is played quite extensively all over India and there are several associations that govern the game in India. Among them, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) is the national governing body for Hockey in India and all the other associations operate under the supervision of IHF. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) started its journey in the year 1925 with it`s headquarter based in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, during the Scindia Gold Cup tournament. However, the IHF was not quite active during its initial years and it started to be noticed only after the World War I.
The Indian Hockey Federation got the recognition and membership of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in the year 1927. The IHF soon organised a national championship between provinces in 1928 and the venue of the championship was Calcutta (present day Kolkata). The main objective behind organising the championship was to select the Indian team for the Amsterdam Olympic Games. The first international tour undertaken by any Indian team representing IHF was the Army Hockey team`s tour to New Zealand. The Indian players performed wonderfully in the tour and their excellent skills thrilled everyone.
After the successful tour of the Army Hockey Team to New Zealand, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) started organising more tours. The tours were organised for providing the Indian team with an opportunity to get enough practice to excel in the field of Hockey. India successfully participated in the Olympic Games under the supervision of the IHF and it won six straight Gold medals in the championship from 1928 to 1956. The official structure of the IHF was changed a bit in the year 1934, after the Indian team came back from the Olympic Games winning the second gold. The IHF inducted two Vice Presidents and a Treasurer and by this, the previous two member IHF body of President and Secretary, got a boost to become a five-member body.
Mr. Naval Tata took charge as the first President of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) of Independent India in 1947. He continued to remain in charge for a long period, before Ashwini Kumar became the new president. Ashwini Kumar was replaced by MAM Ramaswamy in 1974. According to the present official structure of IHF, the federation is being headed by the President and he is assisted by eight Vice-Presidents. The other office bearers of IHF include the Secretary General, the Treasurer, Three joint Secretaries, and also a paid Assistant Secretary. There are 30 members in the IHF, as well.
