Diwakar Gets Asian Award, more questions raised

New Delhi: 22nd Dec: Diwakar Ram of India has been declared ‘Best Upcoming Asian Player’ by the Asian Hockey Federation.

According to a stick2hockey.com fan who witnessed the Junior Women’s Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur, an Indian Official received the Award on behalf of the player.

We congratulate Diwakar Ram for making a mark – and with scoring dozen goals in the KL 8-Nation and then for the seniors in the Azlan Cup another bunch of goals, both in 2008 – he certainly deserved the award in Malaysia itself.

It is but unfortunate a player gets the award and it was received by someone else. I think the Asian Hockey Federation has to do things in a better and spectacular way. They should look at the FIH or at leased the Hockey Writers Club (London) who invite the annual winners for presentation or dinner.

In this respect, a few questions remains unanswered – which bemuses the way how the sport is administered in India despite hockey not at the hands of ‘disgraced’ KPS Gill.

First let us see how unprofessional the Asian Hockey Federation is.

We do not know who selected the awardees, methodology etc etc; and also we do not have any clue what prevents the AHF to make a press release on this score.

We know who is Asian Golfer, Tennis, Football and it is seen all over the media spaces, but hockey people work in splendid secrecy.

In the last six years almost, in every press conference your website editor has been asking grand old man of AHF, P. Alagendra’ only one question: “When the AHF will have a website of its own?”. Like Indian Hockey Federation, they also need a Promoting Asian Hockey Federation Project to put in place a website, it seems!! Or if they made one and kept it secretly, we are absolutely clueless.

I have been covering many AHF tournaments like Asia Cup, and there must be many others like me. An interaction with those in India brings home the point that none of them ever got even a single email from the AHF or from any of tis Sub-Committees including Media on any of their activities, let alone the Rehan Butt – Diwakar Ram selections.

Now we came to know through a newspaper in Pakistan that Rehan Butt was Asian Hockey Federation’s Best Player for the current year. And thanks to this website fan, again more people came to know the Diwakar Ram’s feat.

Is it the way the AHF wants to promote the game? There is a need for them to be more media savvy and transparent in whatever they do.

Coming to transparency, we have the classic example of our own Ad-Hoc Committee on hockey.

When the Gill’s hockey ‘terror infrastructure’ was dismantled, the Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi, his support personalities and a section of former Olympians associated with them, declared on public daises that they will bring much wanted transparency.

Now we do not know officially many things like who was the manager of the Indian Junior Team that recently toured Argentina.

Three officials – Md. Aslam, Jagbir Singh and Shakeel Qureshi – were present in Malaysia – I had to do lot of home work to find this — obviously to participate in the AHF Congress. It is gathered Jagbir and Qureshi were there to attend a workshop called DUC (Development of Umpiring and Coaching). We were never told officially all the threesome were the Indian delegates. Had they utilized public money for the tour, if not their personal money, then the secrecy is all the more horrible. What are the Indian views they put forth in the AHF Congress, don’t we deserve some input from them?

No one can deny whether the threesome deserves to represent us in that Congress; one is Ad-hoc Committee Chairman, others Director (Planning) and Director (Umpiring) of the same set up. It is good they went in numbers and represented India.

The problem is, why do they prefer to keep the trip under the carpet. Is there anything to hide? This is not what we expected from the new set up. We expected some sort of communication, a part of professional approach.

That too when the Ad-hoc committee is boasting of having its own Communication Director, we certainly expect ‘Communication’.

Now, a question to Director (Planning), Arjuna Award Winner Jagbir Singh. It is great a player of his caliber was part of the Indian delegation when such a honour (Diwarkar Ram award) came to India. Hope he makes some plans so that a current player’s profile gets due increment.

Or will it at the last left to chhota mota websites such as this — which has been portrayed by some as ‘negative minded’ as it bothers all such negative developments — to break this news also?

I know for sure everyone with the Ad-hoc Committee and its Directors render ‘service’, not at all paid for their work. This is exactly the type of things this writer has been opposing. Hockey is a professional sports, it does not need trustee type of free service. Advertise for each sport, and let the selected persons be paid for their time. Till then, we will only be heard, ‘oh we are spending our time in the interest of hockey and such nonsense. As a result, nothing improves, things stand where it had been so far.

Honorary service in sports, as I understand in my long career in journalism, is cover up of inaction, insensitivity and escapism.

Honorary Service is reward for friendship and loyalty, not necessarily for competence, commitment and quality.