Sometime some former Olympians think too much and wish to take long term measure, but unfortunately end up as great losers. In the process, they also lose, what I should say, their image.
The same occurred to a few of the former Olympians. All of a sudden they found warmth in Gill’s company and thought of having a honeymoon. With that they wanted to start a fresh, long, purposeful post retirement career.
They met him at his residence at the glare of cameras, images of them smiling with KPS Gill dominated the television screen and on the sports pages of next day.
When another group of chamcha Olympians vehemently turned their ire on Gill’s blue-eyed boy Joaquim Carvalho and wanted him to go, Gill turned to this new group that descended his home on that day.
Gill then decided Gurbux Singh, BPGovinda, Harmik Singh, Suridner Sodhi – selectors under Gill’s regime — who all seemed to have found more wisdom in then Secretary than with him, should go and he would entertain the new group of brides.
So, enter MP Ganesh, Charles Cornilius, Alloysius Edwards, Iqbaljit Singh.
You cannot expect Gill to remember every Olympian who come and pay obedience to him. When Shekar Gupta, Editor in Chief of Indian Express, asked Gill to name his new set of selectors during his famous ‘Walk the Talk’ programme, Gill only saide ‘Ganesh and somebody else’. Don’t bother ‘the somebody else’ would have felt offended. They are happy that they are at least on the verge of another honeymoon.
But the nature is cruel at times. See what happened to their carefully planned, cautiously executed strategy of siding with Gill when almost the whole country considered Gill as enemy No.1 of Indian hockey. But the former greats, alas, had to confront the nature.
Once the IOA Tsunami engulfed Gill, their bridegroom, these new weds were widowed. Right midway through their honey moon. Had they at least waited for more a fortnight, which would have been considered a great foresight in the Olympians parlance, they could have had along honeymoon, at least some of them, with the IOA, which now controls the hockey affairs.
But one thing is sure, nobody could be as lucky as Ajit Pal. Its every hockey Olympian’s dream to become an Ajit Pal, most of them try sincerely, like our interim selectors who replaced long running Gurbux etc.
But the nature has been very cruel to them. Now neither did they have the honeymoon in full, nor their bridegroom is anymore bridegroom.
Very much sore to their eyes, some other of their folk Aslam Sher Khan, Dhanraj Pillay, why even Zafar Iqbal and Ashok Kumar are having one in front of their eyes.
These people are hockey’s most unfortunate widows