International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Narinder Batra has apologised to several nations, including Pakistan, for his social media outburst during the recent Men’s Hero Hockey World League Semi-Final match between India and Pakistan in London, PTI reported.
“FIH President Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra has issued personal apologies via formal letters and follow up phone calls to several nations and the FIH Executive Board in relation to posting inappropriate comments on his personal Facebook page,” A FIH statement said.
Batra, who was elected as the FIH president last year, had taken to social media network to vent his emotions during the June 18th match, in which India wore black armband in protest.
He had put a post, questioning the timing of the police summons issued to former India captain Sardar Singh during the HWL semi-final in England.
“England is a country which is a safe heaven for all fraudsters who have run away from India and agree to invest in England. I would love to see the reaction of England and world media if in India the England players are called to police stations. Request the Indian media to get the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian High Commission in UK involved, wrote Batra in the now deleted Facebook post.
Following Indian cricket team’s loss against Pakistan in Champions trophy Final at Oval on the same day, Batra posted some abusive remarks against Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who had congratulated the Pakistan cricket team.
The International hockey governing body was not pleased with Batra’s remarks and forced the former Hockey India chief to delete his posts.
According to media reports, Batra then wrote a letter to the President of Pakistan’s Hockey Federation offering his apologies.