Despite proving to be a big success at London 2012, hockey was in the final three sports, alongside wrestling and modern pentathlon, facing the chop at the meeting in Lausanne earlier this month, but, ultimately, it was wrestling that was controversially dropped despite having appeared in every Games, except one, since 1896.

"What happened in the IOC Executive Board was a rude shock for all of us," Negre (pictured top) said.

"It was something we were not expecting."

The main problem, insidethegames understands, is that hockey is widely viewed by IOC members as a Commonwealth sport with its roots set deep in Britain, despite the gold medallists at London 2012 being Germany in the men's tournament and the Netherlands in the women's, retaining the titles they had won at Beijing 2008.

However, Negre remains adamant that hockey's future is safe.

"The hockey tournament was a success in the London Games in terms of crowd and finance," he explained.

"But the IOC vote was a wake-up call for us.

"We believe that hockey is very strong in the Olympics, but we need to see how we can make it better.

"The decision in Lausanne was more to do with procedure and even the people at the IOC were surprised by the outcome.

"The final report in this matter has not been finalised yet."


Nevertheless, Negre was keen to point out that the sport cannot afford to rest on its laurels and that the IOC Executive Board meeting should spark a significant re-evaluation on the game.

"We are in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics," the Spaniard said.

"But the fact that the IOC is looking at the status of various sports is good for us.

"We are taking it in a positive way.

"It tells us where we are and ensures we are not slipping."

The FIH is now looking to develop the sport by increasing its popularity in other countries, particularly in smaller nations, Negre added.

"We are giving more responsibilities to the continental bodies," he said.

"They are now in charge of developing the game in the continents.

"We have also asked all the continental bodies to appoint a full time chief executive, because the sport has to be run professionally."

Most recently, the hockey President has been pushing the sport in Asia and has held talks with Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra about arranging a tournament involving Pakistan in Bangladesh - a nation he hopes to see in the Champions Trophy in years to come.

"The sport has huge potential in Bangladesh," Negre said.

"I did discuss with Mr Batra the possibilities of having a tournament involving India and Pakistan in Bangladesh."

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