New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI) In a bid to raise the standards of umpiring and officiating in the country, Hockey India on Tuesday announced it will conduct an online test on March 29.

The online Test is designed as part of a program for professional development of the umpires and technical officials.

It will help them enhance their skill-based and knowledge-based expertise. It is also expected to illustrate the officials' knowledge levels of International Hockey Federation (FIH) rules and regulations.

The online test will focus on testing the practical and theoretical knowledge of the FIH Rules of hockey.

It is mandatory for any candidate appearing for this test to be registered with a Hockey India Permanent/ Associate State Member Unit.

The registration for the test begin on Tuesday and close on March 15 at 5pm.

"Organising this online test will only raise the bar of umpiring and technical officiating in India," said Rajinder Singh, Secretary General, Hockey India.

"We have several young men and women who want to stay connected to the game by professionally pursuing umpiring and Technical Official courses and we wanted to ensure they are on-par with the international standards."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)