Jyothikumaran alleges 'coup' to oust him from TNHA

Chennai, Jun 20 (UNI) The power struggle in Tamil Nadu Hockey Association (TNHA), following the suspension of Indian Hockey Federation(IHF) in the wake of corruption charges, came to the fore today.

In a press release here Mr Jyothikumaran, who quit as IHF Secretary, following charges of demanding money to select a particular upcoming player, in a sting operation by a private TV channel, alleged that he as the secretary, President of TNHA former Olympian P Krishnamurthy and Vice President V Baskaran-another former Olympian, enjoyed the confidence of the 25 affiliated units of TNHA.

But a few District associations elected a new set of office bearers.

He charged that this was illegal as the four disgruntled districts convened a meeting without a quorum as per the Constitution of TNHA and adopted a resolution to elect new office bearers.

''They have ben propaating distorted and false position petaining to TNHA and this is condemnable,'' he charged.

Mr Jyothikumaran said the TNHA under his and Mr Krishnamurthy's stewardship was ''functioning smoothly and enjoyed the support of an overwhelming majority of the affiliated district units. They had also reposed confidence in him, he added.

Speculation had been rife that following the IHF imbroglio, some district units had been clandestinely 'plotting' to remove the present set of TNHA office bearers especially Mr Jyothikumaran and garner the support of affiliated units to elect Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) Secretary Mr N Ramachandran. This was in the hope of ushering in professionalism into administration of hockey in Tamil Nadu and restore its past glory in the game.

UNI VV RAR KP1852