Black holes

India’s top players fight it out on a torn turf at the ongoing Guru Tegh Bahadur meet

The astro-turf pitch at the Mumbai Hockey Association premises at Churchgate is in dire need of repairs

Indian hockey has been ailing for a long time now so it is only natural that one of it’s premier constituents the Mumbai Hockey Association (MHA) is displaying some of the symptoms of the disease that has brought the country’s national game to its knees.

Consider this, the MHA, which in ideal conditions should have been concerned with running of the game and throwing up talent who would have eventually represented the country, is too busy caught up in its own mess – fighting a host of court cases thereby finding little time to care for the sport.

To their credit, the MHA has managed to revive the Guru Tegh Bahadur tournament after almost a decade, but what’s shocking is that they chose to let most of the India’s best players slug it out on a pitch that is crying for repairs. The turf is torn at numerous places, thereby not only hampering the flow of the game but also putting players at the risk of injuries.

Stitch in time

Replacing the lone astro-turf in Mumbai is simply out of the question as the MHA as of now does not enjoy control over the premises. Their lease has expired and they are awaiting renewal. But as has been the case over the last few seasons, the organisers could have taken the pain to at least get these patches stitched in time for the tournament.

“Playing on this surface is slightly difficult as it becomes hard to judge the ball. It may jump up suddenly and end up injuring players,” said Indian Oil’s coach Devesh Chauhan, after his team’s 13-1 thrashing of Mumbai Port Trust in the quarter-finals yesterday. Indian Navy’s coach PL Murugappan echoed similar sentiments.

Don’t complain

But, MHA secretary Kehar Singh said all the repairs would be completed by Saturday as the semi-finals of the tournament are scheduled for Sunday. “The pitch is 20 years old now so it has gone through a lot of wear and tear. We will repair it on Saturday. Either ways the players shouldn’t be complaining as in the past, they have played on grass and still managed to do well,” was his brusque take on the subject. Any wonder why the sport has reached its nadir?

Meanwhile, Indian Oil were on a goal scoring spree against a hapless Mumbai Port Trust and romped into the semis. Prabhjot Singh, Didar Singh, Inderjit Chadda, skipper Deepak Thakur, Hamza Mujtaba and Bharat Chikara struck a brace each while Rajpal Singh managed one goal.

Leonard Pereira scored MbPT’s lone goal in the 33rd minute. They will meet Punjab National Bank who beat local outfit Western Railways 6-5 in a keenly contested match.

Semifinals on Sunday: Air India vs Indian Navy, PNB vs IOC.