Hockey: Action atlast… IHF suspended, KPS Gill sacked.

At last there seems to be some progress towards managing the Indian Hockey Federation. KPS Gill was unceremoniously sacked as chief of the Federation and IHF was suspended with immediate effect.

Indian Hockey will now be ruled by a committee comprising of Aslam Sher Khan(head of committee), Ashok Kumar, Dhanraj Pillay , Ajit Pal Singh and Zafar Iqbal. Hope these stalwarts of Indian Hockey will be able to provide a vision for Indian Hockey as well as ensure that Hockey gets itself up back to where it needs to be.

However I wonder if this action has come a few years late. With KPS Gill ruling the Indian Hockey Scene with an Iron grip, his chelas am sure would have stuffed their cupboards with more than a few skeletons. How many of those Skeletons will tumble out of their well stocked cupboards is something that needs to be seen in the days to come.

Will the committee be given the freedom to manage Indian Hockey the way it needs to be managed. I am sure these mongrels will make a comeback in no time given their penchant for backroom maneuvering.

Gill wants rules to be changed for qualifying to Olympics

The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) President KPS Gill has put the entire onus on the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for India’s failure to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

Gill refused to blame the team’ performance for the loss in the qualifying tournament at Santiago in Chile that saw India losing out a spot in Olympics hockey for the first time in 80 years.

He also hinted at appointing a foreign coach to prepare for 2012 Olympic Games and said the present team has an excellent bunch of players and are doing fine.

Instead the IHF chief, who has been facing a lot of flak for India’s dismal performance, said that the FIH must chance the present system of qualification and added that the defeat should be taken positively as it gives the team time to prepare for the 2012 London Olympics with single-minded dedication.

Calling former players, who have been demanding more professionalism in the IHF and better training for the players, ‘professional mourners’, Gill ruled out that he had any plan to quit.

In fact former skipper Dhanraj Pillay and former goalkeeper AB Subaiah have called for the resignation of Gill after the debacle.

“It’s the worst day for Indian hockey. It’s time to replace the top officials of the federation. IHF never tried to take the help of players like me who have played for the country so long,” Pillay said after India lost in the qualifiers.

Gill also revealed that the resignation of chief hockey coach Joaquim Carvalho has not been accepted. Carvalho had quit after the Indian hockey team failed to qualify for the Olympics.

Carvalho will be meeting Gill on March 18 to discuss the Olympics qualifier debacle in detail.

However, he accepted the resignation of IHF vice-president Narender Batra.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/gill-bypasses-olympic-debacle-aims-for-2012/61104-5.html