Are players falling prey to HI-IHF tiff?

He plays for India’s top club, the Air India. He also plays in the German League for TG Frankenthal. He represented India at the SAF Games in Dhaka. At the on-going All-India Inter University tournament, he leads the scorers tally with 23 goals in five matches.

With the national associations — Indian Hockey Federation and Hockey India — at war, it is difficult for players like Walmiki to get noticed.

“Which selector is watching them and where? When was the last time a proper hockey national held? No matter how well these players perform, unless the issue gets resolved, many such young and upcoming talent will go waste,” a former selector told the Mumbai Mirror yesterday.

Walmiki, however, is not complaining. “I will keep playing. I will continue to improve my game. If destiny has it, I will play for India,” he said. For this Mumbai lad, hockey is not a sport, it is his bread and butter.

“For the last 18 years me and my family have been living in a house which has no water and electricity. From the worst possible financial situation, we are now in a better position.

All this, is because of the national sport. It doesn’t really matter if I play for India or not. It is important for me to keep playing hockey,” Walmiki said.

The only time he came close to playing for India was in 2009, “I had attended 10 junior India camps, but when it came to the Junior World Cup, I was dropped. I had quit hockey for three months. It was Dhanraj (Pillay) sir and Vernon (Lobo) sir who convinced me to start it again,” he added.

Olympian Merwyn Fernandes however felt that the players should stay positive. “I stayed in Ambernath but was picked up from there because hockey administrators felt I was good. The job of a player is to continue with their game. They shouldn’t get disheartened.

If they are good they will be talked about in hockey circle and picked up to play for India,” Merwyn said. India’s mercurial forward Dhanraj Pillay blamed the absence of nationals.

“Top India players were always selected from the nationals. Many players have been wasted and will be wasted if not nationals are held,” he said.

Meanwhile, Walmiki is enjoying his hockey at every level. “When I started playing hockey I dreamt of playing alongside Dhanraj.

“While playing for Air India I did play alongisde hockey greats like Dhanraj, Dilip Tirkey and many other Indian players. For me, it is as good as playing for India,” an always-smiling Walmiki said, before joining the Mumbai team on the bench.