Candidates announced for FIH’s Athletes’ Committee elections

• 21 candidates announced for FIH Athletes’ Committee
• All continents represented including FIH’s first ever female committee candidate from Iran – Sanaz Heidari
• Four of the eight seats to be elected will be voted for by athletes for first time ever

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is pleased to announce the names of six women and 15 men, who make up the candidate list for the inaugural FIH Athletes’ Committee elections, set to take place during this year’s Rabobank Hockey World Cup, 31 May to 15 June, in The Hague, Netherlands. Whilst the FIH Athletes’ Committee already exists, this will be the first time that four of the eight seats will be elected by athletes. Two women and two men will be elected during the Hockey World Cup, while the remaining four seats will be appointed by the FIH Executive Board in March 2015.

The 21 candidates represent all five continents with seven of the 21 being goalkeepers and four current committee members. The most experienced candidate on the list is Pakistan’s Waseem Ahmed, who boasts over 420 caps, while five others have more than 290 caps to their name, showcasing the quality of this year’s candidates. Six of the players on the nomination list are former players, while the remainder are still competing for their country.

Every National Association had the opportunity to nominate a candidate, resulting in this year’s candidate list being an impressive snapshot of hockey’s reach across the globe from USA to Iran

“I am really honoured and excited to be a part of the first Athletes’ Committee election process,” said Sanaz Heidari, the first-ever female candidate from Iran. “This is a great opportunity to be an ambassador for Iran and help promote the development of hockey, women and sport. I have been an indoor hockey player for 10 years now and have spent the last three with the national team. To have the chance to be a voice and representative for hockey would be a true privilege.”

The new election process is all part of FIH’s drive to better involve athletes in the growth of hockey. In line with FIH’s vision to entertain and inspire a global movement of hockey fans and players, athletes have been encouraged to increase dialogue on FIH’s digital and social media channels as well as star in in impactful video content online and on TV.

“With Australian legend Renita Garrard as the chair we started the build-up of this committee in 2007,” said Michael Green, Chair of the Athletes’ Committee. “I became chair in 2010 and have been fortunate to see a lot of progress. Input from our athletes is critical. They are our most important asset. Several of this year’s candidates are high performance, high profile players and there is a good age representation. When I was representing Germany it was impossible to think about doing this at the same time but this younger generation is playing and want to be a part of change as well.”

The four seats elected at the Hockey World Cup will be announced on the 12 June.

Click here to visit the Athletes’ Committee Webpage.

Female Candidates
Marsha COX, RSA
Rachel DAWSON, USA
Sanaz HEIDARI, IRI
Anne PANTER, ENG
Beth SMITH, NZL
Yimeng ZHANG, CHN

Male Candidates
Waseem AHMED, PAK
Paolo CANE, ITA
Liam de YOUNG, AUS
Niclas FRANZÉN, SWE
Santi FREIXA, ESP
Moritz FURSTE, GER
David HARTE, IRL
David KETTLE, WAL
Henri LHOMME, FRA
Jiwa MOHAN, MAS
Filip NEUSSER, CZE
Xavier RECKINGER, BEL
Scott SANDISON, CAN
Sardar SINGH, IND
Robert van der HORST, NED