Subroto turns down proposal to head Hockey India

NEW DELHI: Suresh Kalmadi proposes, Subroto Roy disposes. Sahara India supremo Roy on Thursday declined an offer from Indian Olympic Association president Kalmadi to become the unanimous president of Hockey India. Kalmadi put forth the proposal at a function organised to wish luck to the hockey players.

“I am trying to persuade him to become the president of HI,” Kalmadi said before telling Roy, “We need you sir to come forward and lead the team.”

Roy turned down the offer. “I work 18 hours in a day, 365 days a year. So I may not be able to do justice to the post. However, I would continue to work for the game in my personal capacity,” he said.

Meanwhile, the players, who came out before the media for the first time since they shifted to Delhi from Pune, seemed quite upbeat about the challenges ahead. “We are fully ready and sure of a top-four finish,” said captain Rajpal Singh.

Referring to the controversies in the Pune camp, when the players went on strike, the striker said it won’t have a bearing on the performance of the side. “We are sure we will have an end like in the movie Chak De India. They went through all sorts of trouble before winning the gold. We too believe that we will have a similar ending.”