Raghu Prasad is lone Indian picked as FIH announces match officials for Paris Olympics

LAUSANNE: Seasoned umpire Raghu Prasad is the lone Indian match official selected by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for the next Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

The FIH on Tuesday confirmed the names of the technical delegates, technical officials, umpire managers, umpires and medical officers who are appointed to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The selection has been made by the FIH Technical Officials and Umpiring Committees, chaired by Sheila Brown (South Africa) and Roger St. Rose (Trinidad and Tobago) respectively.

Continuing hockey’s drive towards maintaining gender equality in the sport, there will again be a 50-50 split of the officials at the Games across Umpires and Technical Officials.

This is a key target for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which aims to achieve this across all sports at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the FIH informed in a release on Tuesday.

Speaking on the announcement of officials for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, FIH President Tayyab Ikram said: “Officials play a fundamental role and give a very substantial part of their free time to their passion for the sport! This is remarkable and I’d like to thank each and every hockey official, anywhere in the world.

"To all those who’ve been selected for the Olympic Games in Paris next year: huge congratulations! This is a fantastic achievement. On behalf of FIH, I want to assure you of our full confidence, support and respect.

And I’m particularly pleased that the split of all officials across both genders will be an exact 50-50, in line with the overarching gender equality principle which prevails in our sport,” the FIH chief was quoted as saying in the release.

Introduced in London 1908, hockey will mark its 25th appearance in the quadrennial sporting event at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The Paris Olympic Games will be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024.