By IANS
New Delhi : The Indian Olympic Association has come out strongly in support of under-fire hockey federation chief K.P.S Gill, saying that the “man-hunt” will not help change the fortunes of the game, the set-back at the Olympic qualifiers should be seen as a wake-up call.
Indian hockey was at its lowest ebb when the national team failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 80 years, losing to Britain in the final qualifier for the Beijing Games Monday at Santiago, Chile.
“It is not right to ask him (Gill) to step down. The coach (Carvalho) stated publicly that he was given a free hand to select the team. The same team had won the Asia Cup a few months ago, it’s just that we did not perform on that day in Santiago,” IOA secretary general Randhir Singh told reporters here.
“I feel for the game. It’s very easy to blame the hockey federation or an individual but it’s a wake up call for all of us to work together. It’s high time we functioned as a team, failing which God alone can help Indian sports,”
The entire nation is holding Gill responsible for the debacle and the pundits of the game have attacked him for running the federation in an autocratic manner.
Asked whether IOA, as the apex body of national sports federations, will take any action against any individual or the federation responsible for the debacle, he said: “We will sit with the IHF president next week and only after discussing the issue with him we will come to any conclusion, a solution cannot be found overnight.
“There is a mechanism in place and we have to go by that, we cannot jump it. The IOA will support any move to revamp Indian hockey.”
Randhir Singh said the IOA did its bit for the game by approaching the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) seeking its help for technical assistance to IHF. The world body has deputed Bob Davidson and Ric Charlesworth.”
The IOA secretary-general also expressed his disappointment over the condition of other sports in the country and he blamed the government for the lack support.
“The way things are moving in India, we will end up with no medals in Beijing Olympics. Only building infrastructure won’t help, all our coaching camps are in a shambles. The shooting camp is scheduled to start from 26th of this month, but there is no sight of ammunition yet,” said Randhir.
He also pointed out that the IOA is taking all possible steps to sort out the issues the federations are facing in preparing their sportspersons for the Olympics.
“We are discussing with every sports federation about its problems. Today, we had discussions with All India Tennis Association (AITA) secretary Anil Khanna. We will again sit with him during the Davis Cup tie next month to ensure that Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi start playing together before the Olympics to enhance their medal chances,” Singh said.