CHANDIGARH, Aug 18: The dismal performance of the Chandigarh teams in the recently concluded second North Zone (sub-junior) Independence Gold Cup hockey tournament held at Sector 42 Hockey Stadium has exposed Chandigarh Sports Department's plan to prepare the players from the grassroot level. The boys made an early exit despite being trained on astro-turf. They had also undergone training before the meet.The Chandigarh teams gave a disappointing performance. The `B' side made their inglorious exit while the `A' team lost all their league matches exposing the Chandigarh Sports Department's `Catch them Young' plan. Chandigarh A conceded 46 goals and the B side, after their thumping 16-0 win over Himchal Pradesh A, let in 12 goals in their next matches.In the inaugural edition, Chandigarh B lost three matches and won one. Chandigarh A were caught on the wrong foot as ten of their players were found overaged by the screening committee and the depleted team lost all their matches.In contrast, Himachal Pradesh, which even lacked the basic facilities like proper grass field, performed exceedingly well and surprised their opponents by entering the semifinals.But this was not in the case with the Chandigarh's teams. Though the trainers deputed at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium and Sector 18 Hockey Stadium, which are the two main hockey centres in the City, claim that a very large number of budding players come to avail the facilities but going by performance of the players in the meet, most of them lacked even the basic fundamentals, apart from physical fitness to stay for full 70 minutes on the field.The two coaches in-charge of the teams, however, passed on the buck, for the substandard performance of the teams.``We had fielded the team for experience only and next year they would do better,'' explained Gurvinder Kaur, coach of the `A' team. She reiterated ``players of other teams were overage while players in our team were still below the stipulated age.''The coach, howewver, forgets to mention that the Chandigarh team also took part in the first edition.Jasbir Singh, who was coach of the `B' team blamed the organisers for his team's dismal performance. ``The organisers had given the wrong cut off date for eligibility. Hence, most of the good players did not find a place in the team. I had selected 40 campers, but when the fresh cut off date was announced, most of them were overage.''On the other hand, the Haryana coach got information from the Sports Department very late and made arrangements at the eleventh hour to field the team. Still both the Haryana `A' and `B' teams reached the last four stage, with the `A' side even making it to the finals.Even the contribution of the Chandigarh Hockey Association (CHA) has been negligible in promotion of the game. ``The CHA should have organised a tournament in the sub-junior category prior to the North Zone to select the teams,'' felt a hockey enthusiastic.The `A' team was selected at the last minute as confusion prevailed all round. ``Had they (coaches) paid more attention, the results would have been different,'' said one of the parents, whose son was playing in the `A' team.When it comes to results, the coaches make tall claims and have a long list of outstanding players who have excelled at the national and international level under their tutelage.Year before last, two hockey coaches were involved in a controversy during the award winning ceremony held under the aegis of Chandigarh Sports Department to honour the coaches having outstanding results. Both the coaches claimed credit for producing an international player. One of the hockey coaches was given an increment but with a warning to `improve his functioning.'
