Hockey hotch-potch

No quickfix remedy

It was an ad hoc arrangement which saw the (mis)management of hockey transferred to the Indian Olympic Association but that cannot justify arbitrary functioning ~ the key charge against KPS Gill’s handling of the Indian Hockey Federation. Political clout apart, there was no valid “hockey” reason for Aslam Sher Khan to have been appointed the chief selector under the new dispensation: yet, equally, there appears to be no valid reason for his being unceremoniously dumped. After all who could expect the man who captioned his book Hell with Hockey to serve as the sport’s meek guardian angel; now the grapevine has it that brash speaking caused his exit. And surely the virtues now found in Ajitpal Singh are no overnight discovery. Cleary the shock at not qualifying for the Beijing Olympics set off the quake that caused one Gill to oust another. That the preceding tremors were ignored only confirms the bureaucratic blindness that refuses to “see” that medals are the end of the process, and not all that matter. Ajitpal, any selector or coach, cannot attain a pinnacle unless the base is wide and strong.

If Indian hockey is to be revived the wonder-drug will have to be administered several tiers below the national squad. Better coaching, several academies, more synthetic surfaces that are made available to “local” competitions at affordable rates, and due incentives (let’s not draw false comfort by accusing cricket of skimming all the cream) are one axis of “attack”: the other must be revamping the IHF, it is critical that all affiliated units (some pruning might be required) are “on board”. For all their financial clout and arrogance the babus of the Sports Authority of India cannot do the job. It’s best that they settle accounts with Ric Charlesworth, for the reports he says he will not hand over until his dues are cleared might serve as a platform from which the edifice can be rebuilt. And please, shed the obsession with immediate results and re-create the conditions which bore fruit like Dhyan Chand, Leo Pinto, Claudius, Balbir, Gurbux, Ajitpal, even Aslam Sher. There is no quickfix remedy to Indian hockey’s plight.