New Delhi: Hockey and football are no longer India’s top priority.

In a sensational development, the youth affairs and sports ministry on Wednesday downgraded the two disciplines on its three-tier category list for continuous poor performance in major international tournaments.

Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that hockey has been stripped of its ‘priority’ status and pushed to the ‘general’ category. Ministry sources later confirmed that football has been demoted from ‘general’ category to the lowest tier — the “others” category.

Under the ministry’s classification, all sports and national federations have been divided into three categories, based on their performance in major international meets.

All games that figure in the “priority” and “general” categories receive financial assistance for participating in international meets, coaching camps, training abroad, buying equipment and hosting national and international tournaments, while games belonging to the “others” category do not receive these facilities.

Football, according to ministry sources, will now only receive government grants for holding national championships.

Till date, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was receiving financial assistance from the Centre for hosting camps and sending teams for all major international meets, including the age group championships.

The ministry’s move may cost AIFF a financial loss to the tune of more than Rs 1 crore.

“So far, the ministry was at least footing the bills for sending most of the teams abroad and was paying for coaching camps. If that is stopped, it will cost the federation heavy,” said an official.

The ministry’s move came close on the heels of Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s visit to the country as part of the Asian Football Confederation’s Vision India project.

Taking a dig at the game’s infrastructure here, Blatter had also said that India were in the “past, past century.” He, however, stressed that the government’s help was a prerequisite to developing the game.

In the Lok Sabha, Aiyar said that the government is concerned with India’s performance in hockey. The ministry, he pointed out, had sought the Indian Olympic Association’s intervention to improve the game, but nothing had happened.

“The Union government spent Rs 35,11,935 on national coaching camps for men’s hockey,” the minister said in a statement.

“Apart from this, an advance of Rs 23,80,950 was given to the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for meeting the boarding and lodging expenses of the team for participation in the World Cup and Rs 26,61,436 towards passage cost of the team.”

The IHF secretary K. Jyothikumaran criticised the government’s decision, saying it would not help anyone.

“The sports ministry has promoted a sport like wushu to the priority list, demoting hockey to general category. We don’t know how this is going to help in improving the game,” he said.

In a recent report, International Hockey Federation observer Bob Davidzson has highlighted financial woes, outdated systems and poor coaching modules as some of the vices that continue to plague Indian hockey.

Aiyar’s move, thus, has made the task for two under-pressure bodies — AIFF and IHF — even more difficult.