Hockey cries help

In Chandigarh, former captain and Olympian Balbir Singh Senior said the team8217;s exit should serve as a wake-up call for people who love the sport.

8220;I am shocked, most hurt as I have had a long association with hockey. Today, I feel as I have lost a close relative,8221; Singh said. He said it was a day to ponder, not just for those associated with the game or its top brass, but the government, media and the public as well. 8220;It will be easy to criticise two or three people, but that will not lead us to any solution. We have to rectify the system as a whole,8221; he said.

Dhanraj Pillay, who cried himself to sleep after Carvalho8217;s men failed to beat Britain for the second time in a week, said: 8220;Whatever you say is not enough. This is the worst day for Indian hockey. I8217;ve been crying myself hoarse for a while now. The IHF never tried to take the help of players like me who played for the country so long.8221;

Others like former captain Pargat Singh, who asked IHF officials to take moral responsibility and step down, said this was waiting to happen. 8220;It was not surprising that the team failed to qualify for the Olympics. It was expected,8221; he said.

As former players, fans and leaders demanded that he wake up and smell the coffee, Gill, oddly enough, spoke about making some and refused to resign. 8220;We do not have an instant coffee machine that you can get results instantly. It takes time to regain your position. We have put the process in place and the results will take some time,8221; he said. Gill has been in charge of the IHF for 15 years now.

IHF vice-president N K Batra, a vocal critic of Gill, stepped down from his post and called for the resignation of the entire top brass. 8220;It is a shame for us that we lost and that is why I have resigned. I cannot work in a body where our president K P S Gill doesn8217;t listen to us. It8217;s not just me, I think everyone should resign. It8217;s not the players who are to be blamed for this defeat, it8217;s the federation,8221; he said.

While the reactions 8212; ranging from anger to resentment to plain disgust 8212; are understandable, the Santiago failure has come as no surprise because Indian hockey, experts pointed out, hasn8217;t suddenly tripped. If nothing else, it has seemed to march purposefully towards exactly this kind of a disaster.

In Athens four years ago, the team finished 11th among 12 teams. They then failed to make the podium at the Asian Games 8212; one of the reasons they had to play these last-ditch qualifiers in the first place.

The FIH stepped in as India lurched from disaster to disaster, launching Promoting Indian hockey, but one year into the project, even they admitted that the IHF was just not moving on the problem areas that had been identified.

There were the sporadic triumphs 8212; the Asia Cup in Chennai being the most recent and lustily celebrated 8212; but by and large, India have shown an incredible reluctance to play competitive games against top teams.

So why is Indian hockey in this state? There are no new reasons to give here. Viren Rasquinha has time and again pointed towards a lack of facilities at the grassroot level. Dhanraj Pillay says there8217;s no respect for players. There aren8217;t enough astro-turfs, the domestic structure leaves a lot to be desired and the selection process remains a sham.