"Athletes will remain my first priority": Tayyab Ikram on re-election as FIH president

Reacting to his re-election, he said: "My heart is full of gratitude for the trust you've placed in me. Many of you have told me that a lot has been achieved in the last 2 years and that FIH is now much closer to you. However, today, I feel that this is my first day. You've given me a new start! I will continue this journey. It will be a time of engagement, a time of empowerment. Athletes are and will remain, my first priority. They need to be at the centre of everything FIH does."

Danae Andrada (Uruguay), Alberto Daniel Budeisky (Argentina) and Erik Cornelissen (Netherlands) were re-elected and Katrin Kauschke (Germany) was elected as Ordinary Members of the FIH Executive Board. Before the election, Hazel Kennedy (Zambia) and Deon James Morgan (South Africa) withdrew their candidature, a release said.

As an additional sign confirming the steady growth of hockey worldwide, Congress approved the application of no less than six new members, namely Bahrain, Chad, Curacao, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan and Senegal. This brings the overall number of FIH members to 146.

In his President's report at the beginning of proceedings, Tayyab Ikram tackled numerous key strategic priorities, such as the FIH empowerment and engagement strategy, athletes' welfare, hockey development or events. He highlighted specifically some of the major accomplishments of FIH since the last Congress -

Governance: FIH advancing in the 5th ASOIF Review; Events: Junior World Cup expanding to 24 teams; Nations Cup and Nations Cup 2 introduced, Hockey 5s World Cup with much enhanced accessibility; Engagement: National Associations Summits; Commercial: Partnerships with Hero MotoCorp, Nike and Laureus; Social media performance during the Olympic Games Paris 2024: 31 million video views, 225.000 new followers and 125 million impressions

In terms of sustainability, FIH won 2024 IOC Climate Action Award and in terms of Olympic Solidarity, there were over 60 projects totalling over USD 2 million

The FIH President also announced the launch of a global mental health project for athletes, as well as the launch of athletes and development portals on FIH.hockey.

The FIH audited accounts were submitted to Congress and subsequently approved. The appointment of Eduardo Mario Guelfand (Argentina) as Judicial Commission President was ratified, the release said. (ANI)