‘Gill and Co have ruined hockey in 14 yrs’

“Jothikumaran is not the only one to be blamed as the real culprit is Gill, who is exploiting the Indian hockey for many years now,” he said. “As top officials usually get away, the Government should see that they do not escape without punishment for their misdeeds,” he added.

Former coach Mir Ranjan Negi said most of the ex-hockey players had inkling about such mal-practices. “We had to lose players like Len Aiyappa, Gagan Ajit Singh and Deepak Thakur because of the IHF administration,” he alleged, adding that “the episode must have dented the morale of the players”.

Another former Olympian Baljit Singh Dhillon said there had always been “an unnecessary interferrence” of officials in team selection and advocated the change in regim at the IHF. “Gill and Co has ruined the Indian hockey in last 14 years. Lone outster of Jothikumaran would not help but there has to be a complete change of regime with a former player being handed over the reins,” he said.