Hockey has finished in the country: Gill

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 30

“Our national game hockey has almost died in our country”, feels former Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) chief Kanwar Pal Singh Gill.

“Where Senior league has gone? Will top class domestic league – Premier Hockey League – take place this year or not nobody knows. Can we call it progress or relegation”, questioned Gill, who was ousted after dissolving the IHF with the intervention of Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) this year.

Talking to this correspondent on phone, Gill said the budget of senior league was about 4.5 crore. Besides whopping prize money of Rs 70 lakh, the players were given between Rs 25000 to Rs 1 lakh each.

“The termination of the league is not only a big setback to the game, but a shock to the lovers of the sport as well”, said Gill.

He also said that the defeat of Ms Els Van Breda Vriesman in the FIH elections is a big shock to the IOC.

“The IOC took the step of dissolving the IHF at the behest of then FIH’s president Els. But with change of the guard in the supreme hockey body, the scenario in the Indian hockey has also changed. Now they have no support of any kind in the FIH and this would hit the Indian hockey further”, feels Gill.

Gill also claimed that the two main events – Azlan Shah and Junior Asia Cup in Hyderabad – were actually programmed by his team.

“After that what the new body has been doing, nobody knows. There is no foreign exposure to the players. No home series are being played. The newly appointed committee had talked a lot about the development of the game at grass-roots level, but till date no such programme has been announced”, lamented Gill while maintaining that they have tied up with a Chennai-based concern to develop the game at lower level in cities, including Chandigarh, Chennai and Bangalore.

“I think the people, who had shown a lot of concern regarding development of the game during my tenure, should again sit together and think where we are going?” asked Gill.