Chandigarh: When the Indian squad walked into the Bird Nest stadium on August 8 during the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics, the Indian hockey team was conspicuous by its absence, having failed to qualify for the world’s biggest sporting extravaganza.

However, there was one Indian – Satinder Sharma who umpired in five matches at Beijing – whose years of association with hockey made him the sole representative from the country, which has won 8 Olympics gold medals in hockey .

Satinder, the only referee from country to be included in the elite panel of umpires of International Hockey Federation (FIH) for four years now, had earlier umpired in 2004 Athens Olympics.

“Nothing could have been better than our team qualifying for the games,” said Satinder, recalling his umpiring experience of officiating in Beijing.

Employee of a local bank, Satinder judged some of the most aggressively played matches.

“Its both special and challenging when it comes to Olympics. The pressure on umpires is enormous,” said Satinder. “Since more technology in the form of video umpire is used nowadays, there is added pressure on umpires to perform consistently,” he added.

A veteran of 108 international matches since 2000, Satinder has officiated in two hockey World Cups – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2002) and Monchenglabach, Germany (2006). Talking on the sidelines of the final of SN Vohra’s All India Memorial Hockey Tournament at Sector 42 Sports Complex, Satinder expressed concern regarding the lack of quality umpires.

“Youngsters should be promoted to take umpiring more seriously. There isn’t much focus on the training of umpires and providing them world-class facilities. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has missed out on this part of the game. A lot many changes take place at the international level, so not only umpires but coaches too need proper exposure. That will help the game at the grassroot level,” he said.

“Moreover, a large number of players lack the basic knowledge of the rules of the game at the domestic level. That is a grave problem and needs a long term policy to rectify it,” he added.