MADRAS: Former Olympian hockey player V. Bhaskaran has made a scathing attack on the Indian Hockey Federation, blaming it for the “many ills plaguing Indian hockey”.
Bhaskaran, who captained the Indian hockey team at the Moscow Olympics in 80 and won gold for the country, in an interview here said most of the IHF officials had not even played the meal the national level,
He said the federation had not bothered to consult former Olympians solve some of the problems.
Predicting a “not very bright” prospect for the Indian team in the forthcoming international tournaments Bhaskaran said barring a couple of players, the entire team that represented the country in the Barcelona Olympics should have been retained.
“Even coach Balkishen Singh should have been retained,” he added.
But for striking a bad patch for about five minutes in a couple of crucial matches, the Indian team really played well in the Olympics. “Left to me, I would have recalled Pargat and used him as my trump card, playing him in only Important international tournaments”, Bhaskaran said.
He said most of the dropped players were in the age group of 24 (o 26 and all of them were in their peak form. “We should have continued with the team that went (o Barcelona”, the former Railway star said. On the standard of hockey in India, Bhaskaran said there was neither any improvement nor any decline. “It is the same”, he said blaming the frequent changes of coaches for the country’s failure to win a gold medal in the 1992 Olympics and 1990 Asian Games.
“A coach should be given at Test four years’ time to show better results but an Indian coach was given hardly an year’s time. By the time he studies the opponents, he is changed”, he said, About improving the standard of the game, Bhaskaran suggested a grading system like in England. The senior team should be backed by junior and all the teams should have coaches training players in the same system.
Seniors should be made to fee that their place was being threatened by a deserving junior and this would force them to give their best for the country, he said,
He said he favored training camps of long education as it was in these camps that every player selected to play for the country attained the prescribed standard of fitness.
A committee comprising, former Olympians from the 70s to help the IHF in “at least matters pertaining to selection and training of the national team” who would have a “free hand” in this regard should be formed.
Recalling his Moscow experiences, Bhaskaran said his team was under tremendous pressure during the dying moments of the game because they relaxed after taking a42 lead, “Only that day, we understood that we cannot afford to relax on Astroturf”, he said.
On his exclusion from the team soon after the Moscow triumph, Bhaskaran said “should have been allowed to continue as a member of the team”, The purpose of dropping him was only to make the late Surjit Singh cap win, he added.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 30, 1993
