CHANDIGARH, NOV 30 : Leandro Negre is the new President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The Spanish sports administrator was elected during the FIH Congress in Los Angeles, USA on Saturday for a four years term, according to FIH release issued today.
Negre received more votes that his opponent Els van Breda Vriesman, Netherlands who has been the FIH President since 2001. A total of 89 National Associations were present at the FIH Congress.
Negre, President of the European Hockey Federation before being elected as FIH president, was delighted with the result ‘I am very happy to be elected and I would like to thank the National Associations for voting for me’, Negre said. ‘And I would like to thank Els van Breda Vriesman for the excellent work she did for hockey.’
During the FIH Congress, the FIH welcomed five new National Associations: Mongolia, Qatar, Togo, Vanuatu and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. With these new National Associations, the number of FIH Member Countries increased to 127.