Just like football has a referee, cricket has an umpire, Hockey also consists of a regulating person that stays on the field and take decision according to the players. It is necessary to have an umpire for this sport especially since it is team sport. There are many players on the firle which makes it difficult for the officials to make decision when it comes to declaring a foul or penalty.
An umpire is supposed to be completely unbiased when it comes to his role on the field. There are many professional and experienced people that have been a part of the international hockey tournament. There are some qualifications which are required for being an umpire at the international stage. So lets take a look at the details of a hockey umpire and also who is India’s first international hockey umpire.
India’s first Women international hockey umpire- Durga Thakur.
Durga Thakur is known to be promoted to international outdoor umpire by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Thakur had begun her career as an umpire from the third Hockey India (HI) Sub-Junior Men & Women National Championship (Finals) in Bhopal in 2013. She is a graduate of NSNIS in 2011, the first international assignment came in 2015 at the double six-Nation Cup in Breda, Netherlands.
She is a teacher who taught the subject physical education at Modern School, New Delhi. She has represented her state, Himachal Pradesh in the National Championships in three sporting events which are handball, basketball and hockey. Thakur was one given the responsibility of being the umpire of a finals of Nationals Game which she executed very well.
Deepak Joshi- Men’s International Hockey Umpire.
In 2016, FIH concluded that Deepak Joshi has been promoted to the FIH Promising List for being the umpires. He is a former national-level hockey player for his state team. He later on decided to conclude education first by doing his Diploma in Sports Coaching, which he completed from Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala.
He later on got his first assignment in the year 2013, for Umpiring at the Hockey India National Championships. It was noted by the officials that he had done an excellent job. Soon he was given major assignments as well, like the Uttar Pradesh Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup Lucknow 2016, Hero Men’s Asia Cup 2017 and Gold Coast 2018 XXI Commonwealth Games in Australia. Eventually looking at his career graph as an Umpire it was taken into consideration that he would be a good option as a FIH Umpire.