Old hands wave goodbye

Uthra G Chaturvedi

Minutes after being named as a stand-by for the upcoming hockey Olympic qualifiers, veteran mid-fielder Arjun Halappa distanced himself from the national team. As he left for his home, Halappa was more hurt than disappointed.

“I am yet to talk to my family. I will go back and then officially announce my retirement from international hockey in a few days. I don’t have anything to prove to anyone and I think it is better to go on my own before I am dumped,” Halappa told The Indian Express.

Having made his international debut in 2001 at the Prime Minister’s Gold Cup in Dhaka, Halappa has been the fulcrum of the Indian team ever since. Even in the recent five-match series against South Africa, used as selection trials for the squad, the 31-year-old stood out with his playmaking and was largely responsible for India’s fluent attack.

The selection committee, though, seems to have decided otherwise. “If the federation thinks youth is the way forward, fine. But if performance is the criteria, then I don’t wish to say anything, my game was there for everyone to see. If they had dropped me saying someone else was better, it would still have been fine, at least they would have been honest. But after 11 years of international hockey, I don’t think I deserve to be on stand-by list. Either I am good enough for the team or I am not. I am not a newcomer anymore to await a chance at someone else’s expense,” he added.

Halappa is one of only three active members from the 2004 Olympics squad, and he doesn’t see himself playing another Games. “Retiring when you can still play is not common in hockey but I don’t want to be yet another player who refuses to admit they have been ignored for good. I didn’t have a godfather ever and I am happy for whatever the game has given me on merit.”

Another former captain, Rajpal Singh, who has been dropped from the squad, said fitness has been cited as a reason but no fitness test was ever conducted. “But I will still try and come back. I don’t give up,” he said. Midfielder VS Vinaya will also return home and is likely to quit international hockey in a few days.

Squad: (goalkeepers) Bharat Chhetri (captain), PR Sreejesh; (defenders) Sandeep Singh, VR Raghunath, Rupinderpal Singh; (mid-fielders) Sardar Singh (v-c), Manpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Ignace Tirkey, Kothajit Singh; (forwards) S V Sunil, Sarvanjit Singh, Shivendra Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Tushar Khandker, Danish Mujtaba, Yuvraj Walmiki, S K Uthappa

Stand-bys: Manjeet Kullu (defender), VS Vinaya (midfielder), Arjun Halappa (midfielder), Chinglensana Singh (forward).