Randhir out of hockey ad-hoc committee
New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS) The resignation of secretary-general of the Indian Olympic Association Randhir Singh from the ad-hoc committee for hockey has been accepted after he said he cannot devote time as he has too many things on his hands.
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi said the ad-hoc committee will have four members now.
‘I am already there in the ad-hoc committee as chairman. So there is no need of another member. Also, Randhir Singh has other responsibilities like looking after 2010 Commonwealth Games infrastructure,’ Kalmadi told reporters after chairing a meeting of the ad-hoc committee and selection committee.
The joint meeting was called to discuss Randhir’s resignation as well as to look into the grievances of the selectors who feel they are not informed about the decisions taken by the ad-hoc committee.
Randhir, who was also present in the meeting, told IANS that the two-member technical committee has been re-organised to include all the five selectors and now they will decide everything related to the team.
Randhir said it was felt that the selectors must have a say in the running of the game and so a selector will accompany the team on overseas trips.
‘Now the technical committee will have seven members and they will also have say in organising tours,’ Randhir said.
The five-member selection committee, chaired by Ajitpal Singh, includes Zafar Iqbal, Dhanraj Pillay, Ashok Kumar and Aslam Sher Khan. They will join Jagbir Singh and Pargat Singh in the technical committee.
The ad-hoc committee, headed by Kalmadi, has Aslam Sher Khan, Rajeev Mehta and A.K. Matoo as the other members.
A significant decision taken in the meeting was to hold the national championship in Pune March 1-15.
It was decided that overseas tours will be decided in a planned way so that it is properly spaced out. For instance, it was felt that the team which is playing in Argentina is returning on Jan 26 and in less than a week, it has to play in the four-nation tournament in Chandigarh. The team will have little time to recoup an rest.
A spokesperson will also be appointed to brief the media.
1 Comment
This is quite funny. The selectors are only present during the last day of the camp or selection. They dont even know names of many players who are in the camp and this gentleman wants them to go for the tour abroad? I guarantee you, the selectors want be knowing hardly 50% of the players who even attend the camp… For confirmation I request any press person to go and ask the selectors to narrate the list of players and their positions…This gentleman Randhir is doing more of damage to hockey and he wants his own people to go with the team for tours? For eg. in 2004, Athens Olympics one Indian Dr. from Germany was being pressurised to go with the Indian hockey team to Athens Olympics..then, somehow IHF denied their request. As such adhoc committee has been doing a good job with limited resources… But really you need to have election in IHF to ensure smooth running of Hockey in the country…