After India finished fourth and last at the recent 4-Nation at Perth, Australia, then coach Joaquim Carvalho made a distress call to the IHF and sought a replacement. He wanted hitherto unknown, but very well known talent to Joaquim, Amit Kumar.
Coaches and players uniformly confide that Amit was never in the camp, nor was in any junior programmes. As such his direct entry into senior side without ever proving his talent on any domestic and international fora was a fraud. More so in the light of the fact that his name was not even in the standbye list.
Now, after meeting the Tournament Director of these two 4-nations at Ipoh, and after collecting relevant records, what emerges is shocking.
Amit Kumar, who flew on emergency basis, was played in just one match out of possible four matches. He was played just four or five minutes in that one match also.
Very shocking indeed is Amit was supposed replacement of inform SV Sunil. The latter, a week later at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup,played so superbly that he could be named ‘Player of the Tournament’. His role was overshadowed by the goal-obsessed assessment of Sandeep Singh.
Now, the moot questions? Why was an unknown player taken to Darwin and was played in only one match?
Consider the cost involved in sending a player by flight and accomodating him for the duration of the tournament, and everything is just for playing a new face for five minutes.
Why was this madness allowed to take place? Who are the beneficiaries? Is the former IHF Secretary alone in taking money for putting a player in the team?
Or did a vicious circle operate?
Now the government claims there is a Government Observer in place. We understand it is one Ajit Pal Singh, who seemed to have also represented India in the 70s. He is also now one of the five Selection Committee members on adhoc basis. Let us wait and watch what this man has to say about this.
If he does not act, can we conclude he is also part of the vicious circle? Let us wait before taking a view on this matter.
s2h will follow the case with the seriousness such loot deserves.