HI to introduce grading system for match officials

To improve umpiring standards and bring more structure to officiating, Hockey India has decided to introduce grading system for all officials, including umpires and technical officials. Tournament officials — technical delegates, umpire managers, technical officials, judges and umpires — will be divided into three grades.

While for Umpires the final score will be based on performance reports from all domestic tournaments, fitness tests and online tests, for technical officials the parameters will be the same without fitness tests.

The minimum (on a scale of 100 percentage points) for umpires has been set at 60 while it is 50 for technical officials. Umpires scoring above 80 will be included in Grade 1, 71-79 in Grade 2 and 60-70 in Grade 3. For technical officials, grading will be on similar lines except Grade 3 (50-70).

Eligibility criteria include u-25 for umpires (u-35 for rest), minimum two years experience in State and district championships. State units may send in nominations from July 1.