Technical man should replace Gill as selection committee chief’

Kaushik guided India to the Asian Games gold after a gap of 32 years at Bangkok in December last year, but was unceremoniously ousted alongwith Pillay, fellow forwards Mukesh Kumar and Sabu Varkey, half-back Sandeep Somesh and goalkeepers Ashish Ballal and AB Subbaiah.

The Olympian severly criticised IHF president KPS Gill for his recent comments that none of the six, barring Pillay and Mukesh Kumar, will be considered for the Indian team and for saying that there was nothing to gloat about the Bangkokvictory.

“Gill will be advised to watch the video-cassettes of the matches. We beat South Korea in open play in the league stage before beating them on penalties in the final.

Kaushik, a key forward of the Indian team that won its eighth and last Olympic gold at Moscow in 1980, said he had incurred the wrath of the IHF officialdom for consistently supporting the senior players.

“I am always for the game. If they take the seniors (in the Indian team) and provide good results under another coach, still I will be a happy man,” he said.

Kaushik demanded that Gill quit his post as chairman of the National selection committee and wanted a person with technical knowledge to take up the job to bring more fairness in team selection.

Denying there was any infighting among the players during the Asian Games campaign, Kaushik said there was “great team spirit”.

Kaushik supported IHF’s scheme to develop many teams, but felt below-par players were being accommodated to favour those close to the IHFbosses.

On Gill’s contention that the six seniors would not last till the Olympics next September, Kaushik said IHF’s argument not only lacked logic, but some of the replacements were actually older than those omitted.

Asked whether money was the root cause for the rift between the star players and IHF, he said it was a major reason. He did not agree with Gill that IHF had to struggle to raise funds and that the players were unreasonable.

In fact, IHF was soft-pedalling on enaging a foreign coach or physical trainer as then they will decide on every aspect, including selection. “The compromise they are making now can work only at National, not at the international level,” he said.

Kaushik said it was fine to remove players, but only those who deserve should be selected and officials should also share the responsibility for poor performances.

Kaushik said he will write a book soon with special emphasis on the tumultuous six-month period he was National coach. “In that book, you will find manybehind-the-scenes events that people are not aware of,” he added.

IHF scuttled Dronacharya Award’

MK Kaushik today said it appeared the IHF scuttled his chances of being bestowed with the Dronacharya Award for excellence in coaching.

“IHF appears to have had a hand in denying me the award. I don’t think I’ve done any wrong or harm to the federation or players,” said Kaushik, who was part of the 1980 Moscow Olympics gold medal winning squad and coach of the Bangkok Asian Games title-winning side last year.

“Apart from Bangkok, I have produced a number of women players who are in the National squad, including Pritam Rani besides working with some top men players,” Kaushik, who was the Chief women’s National coach before taking over the men’s team, said.

Kaushik spits venom