“We are very happy with the government’s decision to upgrade hockey to the ‘Priority’ list. The mistake has been corrected”, Gill told PTI.

“It will be a shot in the arm for those concerned with hockey. It will help the game,” he said.

In a surprise development, the Sports Ministry today provided a new lease of life to men’s hockey by upgrading it to ‘Priority’ category, along with seven other disciplines.

After a string of flop shows, men’s hockey was downgraded to the ‘General’ category in June last year and the game plummeted to new low with the team failing to qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games, which meant India would not feature in Olympic hockey event for the first time since their 1928 debut.