NOTHING RIGHT: Gill feels that both the IOA and the government have failed miserably in their tasks.
New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) inability to find a coach for the men’s hockey team due to internal politics has made one man very happy.
Former hockey boss KPS Gill is fishing in troubled waters and he lamblasts the IOA in this exclusive conversation with CNN-IBN chief sports correspondent Digvijay Singh Deo.
Digvijay Singh Deo: What is your take on the IOA’s agenda?
KPS Gill: I would say that the intent seems to be to finish every sport in this country. There have been some successes in the last Olympic because of personal efforts of some people. But as organizations, both the IOA and the government have failed miserably in the task of producing sportsmen.
Digvijay Singh Deo: You talked about the ad hoc committee as a ‘revolving committee’, what did you mean?
KPS Gill: An ad hoc body is an ad hoc body. The very name is ad hoc. I don’t see how an ad hoc body can last forever. Six months have gone by, they have done nothing. The did only two things which we had organised already. We are doing junior commonwealth games, youth commonwealth games in Pune and everyone seems to be busy in that. The statement was made by the president of the ad hoc commitee that ‘I am too busy in the youth commmonwealth games’. If the president of the ad hoc commitee is too busy in the youth commonwealth games, My god what will happen if you have Olympics.
Digvijay Singh Deo: Are you suggesting that it was a preconceived notion by some people to through you out and suspend the Indian Hockey Federation (IHS ) and take over the reins because were lots of good things around the corner such as the commonwealth games and world cup to be organized?
KPS Gill: Ad hoc body is only those five people who run the IOA and nobody else. They have been running it for donkey’s years. They become very active before any event. There has never been any discussion on how to improve sports in the country. Not once have I attended any such discussion. Never an agenda of that nature has been put forward. They don’t have a reason. They can’t do it. It can’t enter their minds. They are just incapable of doing it. But they have given themselves a great name ‘Indian Olympic Association’. It is a big hoax.