IHF should give proper attention in junior level: Thoiba

GUWAHATI, October 4: The former star of the Indian hockey team Thoiba Singh, who was in the city to join a sit-in-strike organized by North East Student Organization (NESO) to seek justice for weightlifter Monika Devi, in a conversation with The Sentinel, Thoiba said that lack of proper training facilities to the junior players is the reason behind the down fall of Indian hockey. Here is the excerpt.

* This time India failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Your reaction.

I was really hurt by the episode. You know, hockey is the game where once India dominated totally and also won the Olympics title for eight occasion. But we have lost the past glory and it is really very unfortunate for us that we didn’t qualify for the recently concluded Beijing Olympics.

* Why such things are happening in the Indian hockey? Do you feel we don’t have quality players ?

No, no, there is no dearth of talent in our country but we are still far away from proper planning. We failed to qualify for the recently concluded Beijing Olympics for several reasons. We are continuously ignoring to develop our junior players and as long as this type of system would be continued in our country I feel we will see such type of failure in the future also.

* Your suggestion in this regard.

We have to give equal attention to the junior players and should give them all type of training facilities. Unfortunately Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) failed to do so. Federation should play a vital role in this regard if they really want to bring back the golden day of the Indian hockey.

* Few experts feel that proper attention to be given at the time of selecting junior players. Do you feel it so?

I agree. Nowadays hockey is played in the astro turf and to play on that surface you need both physical fitness and speed. So during the selection we should keep both the points in our mind and special attention should be given on the speed.

* Are you actively involved with coaching nowadays?
Earlier, I did coaching regularly but due to different reasons it is not possible for me to continue coaching.

* Would you like to involve yourself for the development of hockey in the NE region?

I am always ready to do that. You would be glad to know that in the recent past, I had a talked with the officials of the Assam Hockey Association also regarding the development of the hockey in this region. I am always ready to help the game whenever my service would be sought.

* You know everything about the incident of Monika Devi. Would you tell us whether this type of incident did occur in Indian sports during your days?

It would be little bit difficult for me to give reply as I played the team game and Monika is associated with individual game. In the team game, it is difficult to do this type of injustice with a player.

* From a player’s points of view what will be the effect on Monika after the entire episode?

There will be a big impact on Monika after the incident. A player has to sacrifice a lot to reach a respectable position. After got selection in the team for a event like Olympics and all of a sudden if you dropped out from the team for a wrong reason then I feel that it is enough to finish a bright career.