Indian hockey in tatters, but Gill refuses to go

BUYING TIME: Gill says he needs time to regain India's position and get results.

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Suhasini Haidar

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New Delhi: Indian hockey lay in tatters on Monday after the men's team crashed out of Olympics and several key officials of Indian Hockey Federation stepped down, calling for a government takeover of the federation in order to save the game.

Angry hockey fans across the country raised a clamour for the resignation of Indian Hockey Federation chief KPS Gill, but the former supercop-turned-sports-administration stuck a defiant stand and refused to quit.

The Indian team's debacle at Santiago on Sunday was followed by a spate of resignations on Monday. Chief Hockey Coach Joaquim Carvalho stepped down along with his entire support staff, saying his failure to 'deliver result' prompted him to resign.

IHF Vice-President Narendra Batra followed suit and resigned on Monday, calling it a shocking failure. He begged the government to take over IHF to save the game.

"I have resigned in disappointment," Batra said after eight times Olympic champions India lost 0-2 to Britain in the final of Olympic qualifier and failed to qualify for the mega event for the first time in 80 years.

"The government should take over the association for the next 10 years and run it through former sportspersons and administrators to bring hockey back on track," Batra pleaded.

Asked if IHF president KPS Gill should share the blame and also resign, Batra said: "Morally, he should but he will not do so. He is stubborn."

This brought forth the rift within IHF after Batra revealed that Gill and IHF Secretary-General K Jyothikumaran were not even on talking terms for sometime now. "I know that Gill and Jyothikumaran are not talking to one another for six to seven months. Hockey is in a mess," he claimed.

Gill, however, remained unmoved, saying he would wait for the team to return before deciding the future course of action. Talking to CNN-IBN, he did admit that it was a setback for the game, but said IHF needs time to deliver results.

Asked to react to the demands for his resignation, the under-fire IHF chief said: "I will respond to these things at a later stage. We do not have an instant coffee machine that you can get results instantly. It takes time to regain your position. We have put the process in place and the results will take some time."

The IHF chief said he would have discussions with the chief coach Joaquim Carvalho and the other support staff to find out the exact reasons for the debacle before making any statements. "It is not proper to respond at this stage. We will wait for the team to return first, then we will have a clear idea what went wrong," he said.

REACTIONS:

The heartbroken hockey fraternity reacted with anger and demanded the immediate ouster of Indian Hockey Federation President KPS Gill.