Sacked Gill still plays, gets Under-21 hockey team out of Poland tour
By Milind Ghatwai
Bhopal, May 30: K P S Gill continues to haunt hockey even though he is no longer part of the Indian Hockey Federation. His latest dribble has sent the Indian U-21 team out of the four-nation tournament long before it begins in Poland on June 11.
When the ad-hoc committee, set up by the Indian Olympic Association to manage the affairs of hockey, was finalising plans to leave for Poland it learnt that India has been replaced by Austria in the tournament.
“When we inquired, we learnt that Gill had managed to send a letter to the organisers in Poland saying the IHF was not in a position to send its team due to unavoidable circumstances,” committee chairman Aslam Sher Khan told The Indian Express on Friday.
The letter was sent on May 14, say sources, a fortnight after a five-member selection committee and the ad hoc committee was set up.
Khan said the committee learnt about the letter last week and tried to convince the organisers to allow the Indian team to participate in the four-nation, invitation tournament but did not succeed. “He has brought us shame. He alone accounted for 50 per cent of the problem plaguing Indian hockey. He continues to trouble us because he did not hand over the charge to us,” the former Olympian said.
According to him, Gill got a secretary in the IHF office to write a letter about non-participation. Neither Gill nor the secretary asked the committee before sending the letter nor informed it. When contacted, Gill refused to comment.
Thirty players who assembled at Sonepat for coaching were told four days ago that they are no longer flying to Poland but the committee was still trying its best to find a way out.
The camp was organised only for the Poland meet and would have concluded on June 2.
After the IHF letter, the organisers got in touch with their closest neighbours and managed to rope in Austria at the last moment. “We did try to request them to make it a five-nation tourney but that did not work out,” Ashok Kumar, a selection committee member, said, adding, “it was too late for them to reschedule the tournament.”
The players have been told that they will be allowed to take part in the Asia cup tournament to be played in Hyderabad in July. Meanwhile, the committee will also try to get in touch with some foreign teams and find if the Indian team could be sent there for the crucial foreign exposure.
Khan said Gill had even tried to stop coach Pargat Singh from being sent to Kaula Lumpur but the committee managed to convince the Punjab government to allow him to “leave on duty.”
Stung by the latest fiasco, the committee has asked the stationery and other literature in the IHF office to be brought to the IOA’s office. “He has already defamed us we won’t let him to do it again,” Khan said referring to Gill. He said the Indian team’s performance in the Azlan Shah tournament proved that Gill’s departure had helped the game.
Courtesy: Indian Express