No silver lining is visible
Stickwork by
Gurbux Singh
After showing a lot of promise initially, the India colts finished a dismal ninth at the Junior World Cup in Singapore and Malaysia. In a month of great significance to Indian hockey this failure on the field mirrors as it were the failure off it to come up with a solution to the crisis of administration.
So, the difficult times continue; the sun hasn’t shone through, and I can’t see any silver lining.
In the latest move, the IOA has dissolved the ad hoc committee for hockey replacing it with another ad hoc body, Hockey India. The FIH had issued an ultimatum that unless the men’s and women’s associations are merged, the 2010 World Cup will be taken away from India.
And now that the IOA in their own wisdom have registered this current body, one of the complaints is that it has as office bearers several names that do not belong to hockey.
Adding an intriguing twist to the tale is K.P.S. Gill, who has joined hands with the IOA. It was the parent body in India that had earlier removed him and along with him had disaffiliated the IHF, the body that was headed by him.
On the other hand, a good number of the state associations — the men’s under J.B. Roy and the women’s under Amrit Bose — met at Aamby Valley following which they put forth their demand of open elections. This is not being done and although Hockey India has promised to hold elections in six months’ time, it is anybody’s guess when that would really happen.
Brasa
All this after the FIH president Leandro Negre gave an assurance that fair and open elections will be held shortly.
I’m keeping fingers crossed as there are conflicting reports from the FIH secretary general Peter L. Cohen and Negre. All said and done, of paramount importance is the participation of all state associations in the unified body for Indian hockey.
Really, the impasse has dragged on long enough and another disappointing tournament in Singapore is enough indication that it’s high time it was resolved.
For more than a decade it was India and Pakistan who dominated the junior World Cup. But this time both of them had indifferent campaigns.
It is the Indian women who have put up a great show at the FIH Women’s Champions Challenge in Russia.
As for the senior men’s team, coach Jose Brasa has been candid in his diagnosis. He has discovered that India has the right kind of talent but wrong technique. This is what I’ve maintained for more than two decades now.
Playing good, beautiful and tactically sound hockey doesn’t count for much. What matters are results and that is what Indian hockey needs. The time given to him to effect a turnaround at the 2010 Asian Games in China is too short. The ball, though, is in Brasa’s court. It is an onerous duty and I wish him all the best.