| Year of gloom for Indian hockey |
Pratik Dogra
The biggest on-field story of the year was India’s disgraceful performance at the Olympic qualifiers in Chile and their subsequent ouster from the Beijing event, for the first time ever in their history. The setback came as a blot from the blue for an average Indian, fed on wonder tales of the legendry Dhyan Chand’s artistry and the Golden era when India notched up 6 consecutive Gold medals in the sport. The prospect of having to qualify for the event was unthinkable and not qualifying…outlandish!
India miss the bus to Olympics…and aftermath
And one fine morning, at Santiago, the Chilean capital, the outlandish happened. India failed to put it across Great Britain in the finals of the qualifiers to crash out of the race for Olympic glory even before the events commenced. India’s past glory laid in tatters.
The decline in India’s fortune was pragmatic. From being the ‘First among Equals’, the undisputed champions, we were reduced to challengers.
After the entire 90’s was spent playing catch up to the emerging Europeans, the onset of the decade saw India relegated to competing with nations like China and Japan, just to earn a right to participate with the best.
And in 2008, the national sport of the country hits the rock bottom. India, an eight time Olympic gold medalist, for all its past laurels, clubbed with teams like Chile, Austria and Great Britain has failed to qualify for Olympics.
The women`s team also followed suit and missed their bus to Beijing, thereby leaving India, once powerhouse of world hockey, unrepresented in the Olympics.
After the Santiago debacle, every citizen thought that it would be redemption time for the national game, but instead of working together towards regaining the lost glory of the sport, people sitting at the helm of affairs started a blame game with most of brunt falling on an autocratic then Indian Hockey Federation chief KPS Gill.
Coach Joaquim Carvalho`s was the first head to roll, followed by IHF vice-president Narendra Batra, who voluntarily resigned, but a stubborn Gill refused to step down or own the responsibility.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA), who is presently handling the hockey affairs in the country, also came out strongly in support of under-fire Gill, saying that the "man-hunt" will not help change the fortunes of the game and the setback at the Olympic qualifiers should be seen as a wake-up call.
After Carvalho`s resignation, pressure started to mount on Gill to give the job to International Hockey Federation (FIH)-appointed Ric Charlesworth, who was still unused in the Indian men`s team. After four days of brainstorming meetings, the suspense over the Aussie great`s association with India ended as he was appointed the Technical Advisor and expert coach of the men`s team.
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