Dropped seniors allege witch-hunt

As the new-look Indian hockey team for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup left late on Friday night, conspicuous by their absence in the tour party was a group of players who had revolted during the pre-World Cup camp at Pune earlier this year.

It all started when Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh were omitted from the list of 40 probables. The official reason for their sacking was their poor performance in the World Cup and their lack of fitness. Interestingly, both were at the forefront of the players’ revolt and had asked for graded contracts and players contract. The final 18 saw two more leading names from the core group of striking players, goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza and midfielder Vikram Pillay, being left out.

The lone survivor happens to be Arjun Halappa. Speaking on behalf of the dropped seniors Thakur says, “We knew beforehand that this could happen, it’s no surprise.”

This mass sacking is almost reminiscent of the 1998 episode when six seniors were dropped just after the Asian Games. While back then the national coach, too, was shown the door, this time around things are a bit different. Present coach Jose Brasa has been gagged. “I am not supposed to talk to the media,” is the only comment Brasa makes these days.

Those dropped insist they don’t mind fighting their way back to the team. “But the federation doesn’t seem too interested in trying us out. I guess they are worried about another player revolt,” say a World Cupper who wasn’t on the flight to Malaysia.

Broken promises

The chances of another uprising are bright since the promise made by the Hockey India officials to defuse the revolt haven’t been kept. The selectors and federation justify the selection by saying that the Azlan Shah tournament was an opportunity to “give a the youngsters a chance”.

But with 29-year-old goalkeeper Bharat Chetri included in the team, it becomes clear that it wasn’t the age that went in his favour. The Azlan Shah tournament happens to be Chetri’s first international after the 2008 Olympic qualifier and coach Harendra Singh admits he is rusty. Goalkeeping coach Romeo James says that it was tough to get D’Souza’s replacement, but that hasn’t stopped the selectors from keeping him out. Among the youngsters who could have been tried are Roshan Minz, Bikash Toppo and Dharamvir Singh, to name a few.

Thakur wants to know the selection criteria. “If poor form was the reason, there were many others in the team who failed to perform in the World Cup. Besides, we were part of the core group of players formed in 2008 for the Commonwealth Games. Even if we were not good enough for this tournament, why were we not included in the camp,” he asks.

Prabhjot’s case is more curious. Except for the World Cup, he has been in good form for the past one year. But his disappointing show in a couple of games in the World Cup gave the officials an excuse to axe him.

Meanwhile, Pillay’s dropping, too, is mysterious. First the selectors said he was dropped but later they said he was being rested.