NEW DELHI, June 3 The Indian Olympic Association on Wednesday announced the formation of a new field hockey body to govern the sport in the country ahead of the men's World Cup in New Delhi next year.

“The new national association, called Hockey India, will govern both the men and women's game in the country,” said Suresh Kalmadi, president of the Indian Olympic Association.

The formation of a unified field hockey body comes after the International Hockey Federation threatened to take away the World Cup from India if the country did not have one national association governing the sport both for men and women.

“The International Hockey Federation told us that India will only host the men's World Cup next year if it can form a unified national association for men and women,” Kalmadi told reporters.

“If this had not been done, even India's participation in international events was under threat.”

Kalmadi said the IOA had decided to grant provisional affiliation to Hockey India, while it had disaffiliated the two associations separately running men's and women's field hockey.

The IOA has been governing men's field hockey in India for one year through an administrative panel, after suspending the Indian Hockey Federation in the wake of bribery accusations.—AP