BK Nayak appointed FIH Health and Safety Committee Chair

Bibhu Kalyan Nayak became the first Indian to be appointed Chair of International Hockey Federation (FIH) Health and Safety Committee by the world governing body.

A native of Bhubaneswar, Nayak has extensively trained in Sports Traumatology and Sports and Exercise Physiology from National Institute of Sports Medicine at Havana, Cuba & National Sports Centre at Madrid, Spain.

He will serve a two-year term lasting till the first executive board meeting after Congress 2020, a media release said.

Nayak also served as a medical officer for the 2018 Men's World Cup. He was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps of the Indian Army in 1995 and has worked in the Army Sports Institute, Pune for six years.

His first international stint as the team doctor was in 2007 when he took up the role with Indian youth boxing team for a span of two years. Nayak then began working with the Indian hockey team in 2009, accompanying it to several events including Sultan Azlan Shah, Commonwealth Games.

"I am extremely honoured that FIH has considered me for this prestigious role. As an Indian, it is a proud feeling for me. I understand it is a huge responsibility and I will be working with experts in the medical field from other countries too," Nayak said.

"I am confident of doing justice to the role, backed with my experience of working with elite athletes over the last two decades as well as closely working with elite hockey players during the Men's World Cup.