Federation condemns Batra’s statement
Despite forging a working compromise between the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and Hockey India (HI), at the instance of the Sports Ministry, the two bodies still seem to operate on different platforms as the IHF today took to task HI secretary-general Narinder Batra, for his statement blaming the IHF for players Sardara Singh and Sandeep Singh walking out of the ongoing national camp in Bangalore, in preparation for the Asian Championship to be held in China.
IHF secretary-general Ashok Mathur said here today that Narinder Batra’s accusation that “the IHF does not want the team to qualify for the Olympics and that the IHF is playing a game from behind is not only irresponsible, but reflective of his own incompetence”.
Mathur said his body strongly refuted “such outrageous remarks” directed at the IHF “which is in existence for the last 85 years and is the proud holder of the world record of winning eight Olympic gold medals — six in a row”.
Mathur reminded Batra that he and the coaching staff had been telling the media from the very beginning of their doubts about the team’s chances of qualifying for the Olympics.
He said the HI secretary-general’s accusations only reflected “his negativity and mindset”. “In fact, he (Batra) had failed miserably to keep the morale of the team high, and safeguard the interest of the players,” Mathur alleged. He said the IHF would not be surprised “if Batra now starts blaming the IHF of inciting the players for the strike/protest before the World Cup 2010 (held in Delhi)”.
He said the unrest and discord among the players was due to the “divide and rule” policy adopted by Batra, and his mishandling of the situation during the players’ strike which had forced even the then HI president (A.K. Mattoo) to resign. Mathur stressed that Sardara and Sandeep had taken permission from chief coach Nobbs to quit the camp, citing family reasons, and he saw no reason why Batra should blame the IHF.
“Clearly, Batra has failed to deliver the results and is attempting to hide his own failures by making such unwarranted accusations which can only be termed as an advance excuse for his failure,” Mathur added.
He said Batra’s accusations will only help scuttle the truce forged between IHF and HI for the “better organisation of the game in view of the recent settlement”. He said the HI stance would “not only give a wrong signal to the hockey lovers, but also leave a demoralising effect on the players”.