Hockey in a very bad phase in India, Pak: Ex-Olympian

Former Hockey Olympian Aslam Sher Khan has said that hockey was going through a very bad phase both in India and Pakistan although due to varying reasons.
“While in Pakistan, hockey was going through a bad phase as the country itself was in turmoil, the game was suffering in India due to other reasons.” Khan, also a senior Congress leader, said.

“Some time back we had the Indian Hockey Federation which was dissolved and its place was taken by an ad hoc committee and this too was also disbanded some time later,” he said.

The former hockey Olympian said that “the game was being run in India through what is known as Hockey India but even till today, this body has failed to get recognition from the government.”

“Hockey was being run in India at the whims and fancies of the FIH and the first indication of this was that a Spaniard was appointed as the coach of the Indian national hockey team,” he said adding “there was no point in having a coach from abroad for the Indian hockey team as there were many number of stalwarts who could have taken up this job easily and done it in a much better manner.”

Khan also said that former greats of hockey were being treated as second class citizens by Hockey India. “While those having connections with the FIH were able to sit in VIP galleries during the recent World Cup matches, former players were made to sit in an enclousre from where they were not allowed to move out,” he said.

He said that these players even had a tough time in getting passes for the world cup matches. The former Olympian said that “the manner in which the spaniard coach Brasa handled the Indian team left much to be desired.”

Brasa even went to the extent of interfering in the selection of the captain for the national team, he said.

“His job as a coach was to make the team work and not get involved in the captain selection,” he added.