India's Olympic Hockey Heartbreak: Is Cricket Overshadowing Other Sports? Share Your Thoughts

India fails to make it to Olympic hockey

10 Mar 2008, 0544 hrs IST, PTI

SANTIAGO: Scoring twice in the first half, Britain ended India's Olympic dreams (Watch) with a 2-0 win in the final of the World Hockey qualifying tournament at Santiago.

Barry Middleton (4th minute) and Richard Mantell (10th) struck for Britain, who then showed the discipline and character to withstand intense pressure to emerge as deserving winners while qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Eight-time gold medalists India thus failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time since their debut in 1928.

While the Britain players celebrated to the accompaniment of the song "We are the Champions", the Indian players, heads bowed, shoulders slumped, could only watch the jubilant scenes of a team that played smarter, if not better, hockey.

On that day, it was Britain who showed a lot of steel in dealing with the massive pressure they faced from the Indian forwards. The difference was that Britain, who had beaten India 3-2 in the league, capitalized on the two early chances that came their way, while the Indians did not.

In contrast, India could never really settle down, and the two yellow cards shown to their key players, midfielder Sardara Singh and forward Prabhjot Singh, added to their woes. This brought the number of yellow cards to five in three matches.

India also missed converting five penalty corners, with neither Ramachandra Raghunath with his drag-flicks nor Dilip Tirkey with his direct hits able to score. In fact, their set-piece drill in the second half was rather pathetic as the ball was not even stopped cleanly.

India, the eight-time gold medalist, failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time since their debut in 1928. India suffered a 0-2 loss to Great Britain in the final of the World Hockey qualifying tournament at Santiago. Is it right to blame the players for the plight of the national game? Isn't the step-motherly treatment meted out to them in comparison to the cricketers responsible for the sorry state of affairs? Shouldn't the corporate and glamorous world look beyond cricket to benefit other sports? Write in with your views.

This is the saddest day for Indian Hockey. The politics is eating us, especially in hockey; everybody is concerned about money.

Poor hockey team... If they are not qualified, then they will be under the radar. Many coaches will be sacked. First, sack that IHF chief, and the entire India watches that useless cricket. Money flows into that. Our hockey players suffer. In what way are the hockey players not at par with our cricketers? They are always mistreated/ill-treated. Only God can save Indian hockey despite having many great stars.

Dear Sir,

It is the saddest day in Indian sports. After 80 years, India failed to qualify for the Olympics. With every sports person striving for new achievements in various sports besides cricket, India's failure to make it to the Olympics is a severe blow to sports lovers. It is time for the government to revamp the IHF and take control away from the so-called politicians.

Thank you,

Ghouse Mohiddin

Mr. KPS Gill has remarked on NDTV that he has no 'Instant Coffee Machine' to produce instant results. Considering the fact that he has been at the helm of IHF for donkey's years, it appears he has forgotten to switch his coffee machine on (whichever he has) or, more obviously, does not know how to use it!

Let us admit that as a nation, we have forgotten hockey as a game. We have been neglecting it for a long time, only paying lip service. That is why we have a bureaucratic IHF, no talent-building and search programs for identifying upcoming players, and no sponsoring by the country's industrial houses.

Hockey can be revived in India. We require a dedicated body to take this game forward and create some glamour for it, like the BCCI for cricket.

Mohan.

Almost all the former hockey players have lamented the lack of proper administrators for what has happened and how administrators make scapegoats out of coaches while going scot-free.

The basic issue is the credentials of people who run sports in our country. We ask such questions only when there is a debacle. One wonders what the credentials are of people like KPS Gill. Priya Ranjan Das Munshi is at the helm of football, and even Lalloo Prasad Yadav wanted to become President of Bihar's cricket association. For that matter, one wonders about the credentials of Sharad Pawar and Rakesh Shukla, President and Vice President of BCCI. Some of the autobiographies written by superstars of Indian cricket reflect the board in a poor light.

Sports administration is a specialized job and should be handled by professionals. We need proper recruitment, transparency, talent, and performance management in the administration as well as the sport. It is a strange irony that we have all these things in companies but not in places where national pride and performance are at stake.

I only wanted to say, "Be a sporting spirit and have a positive attitude."

Next time, Team India will come back stronger. Please motivate the team; don't demotivate.

Regards,
Tom & Jerry

All said and done, what support system is being provided to hockey players? The game of cricket has been so commercialized that it has been converted into a shameless market. The glory of hockey has rarely been highlighted by the media.

Yeah, but as they say, what's the use of rationalizing?

Regards,
Gunjan

It is the problem with our marketing of the game. Sponsors are running behind the cricket team because they have more to offer for the spectators. But the reality is that if there is a World Cup football going on, let's take, for example, Argentina vs. Brazil, Netherlands vs. Germany. At least for a few moments, our attention will be on that match, keeping aside our cricketing heroes. The same is true for hockey, tennis. Think of one of our athletes competing in the 100-meter sprint in the Olympics! All the Indian fans' attention will be on that moment. So the sponsors, sports-loving celebrities, business persons, or well-wishers should take more initiative to make the game more colorful and motivating. Then, more people will be attracted, and we will get more young talents. Eventually, the game will be developed, and we will have the best team. Let's hope our name in sports and games will spread across the globe.

Nirlon has a point. We need a Kerry Peckar in hockey and other sports.

As for sponsors backing cricket, that is the law of demand and supply. Cricket just happens to be the most popular, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. If there is a shameless market, football is a worse example, but the fact is that it just happens to be more popular the world over. We need marketers like Kerry Peckar who, by introducing day-night games, made even one-day cricket what it is today.

Coming back to the original point, sport today is a profession, and the administration and marketing should be done by professionals, like in any other profession. In politics, there is no short-term accountability, and the politicians are bound to bring that culture to sports administration as well, which, as it is, leaves much to be desired. One thing here, though; I would not mind somebody like Gujarat CM Narendra Modi being in charge of some sports admin considering the way people speak of his performance. Performing politicians would be welcome anywhere.

Hi,

I am thinking that the failure of the hockey team in qualifying matches for the Olympics has several reasons:

1. Bad politics that is spoiling our national game.
2. Giving more importance, especially to cricket, and neglecting other sports like hockey and football.
3. Lack of support from the audience, which leads to demotivation and affects the performance of players.
4. Lack of a winning attitude.

Thank you.

In or out, is not the end of the game.

In a game like hockey, both teams cannot win. Take it in a sportsman's spirit. Criticism and personal attacks on anyone won't work.

The Australian who was hired, Ric Charlesworth, has not been able to perform because of feuding politics. Former hockey great Aslam Sher Khan has been trying to collect MP signatures to get rid of Gill. This is what happens when professionals do not run the show.

Very poor time for hockey team.

There is no motivation for other games in India. We have very good players and even though we don't have a good team for all other games except for cricket.

Cricket should be banned in India for a while, and we should have more concentration on other games. We are the second-largest population in the world, and we are not able to produce good players in our country despite the huge population.

Countries with smaller sizes and populations have good teams and good players. We should think about why we have this issue. This trend should be changed.

Apart from cricket, the government and the public should consider other games in India. Why are we devoted only to cricket? Is it because of the public? So people should stop watching cricket games. They should consider that their money is being given and spent on this game.

In India, there are very good players who don't have proper work (i.e., government jobs, where other players enjoy it) and also lack basic amenities like food, water, etc., yet they play for the country. So, it is not only the fault of the players but also the government. Therefore, it is the public's responsibility to bring about change.

So from now on, we will stop discouraging and blaming the players who lose the game. We have to help them succeed in their lives and make things better for them.

Jai Hind.

Regards,

Gayathri

Hi,

It's a very bad situation for India to lose in hockey. There should be a well-defined strategy for playing hockey, and the players should be motivated. Just as cricketers can be seen in advertisements, etc., hockey players should also be given such importance and motivation to perform well.

Regards,
Kalyanij

I think that apart from being a sad incident in the history of India Hockey, this is an eye-opener as well.

I personally feel that the national game of the country deserves its own importance. We all could notice the difference in our hockey teams for a short while when we had Chak De India! The reason for this difference was not the movie, but the attention that everyone gave to the game. But there also we went out of the box and started paying all the attention to the coach and not on the game. Therefore, the motivation started to fade away with time. Just look at what cricket is getting today. Dhoni's, Tendulkar's, and Yuvrajs are earning in crores per month. The entire country knows them. They have the best resources to coach and train them. The entire world is their playground.

What does a hockey player get? How many brands did we see being endorsed by a Dhanraj Pillai? We have not given them what they need. "Our Support"

Let's stand by them, motivate them, and let's not feel ashamed of them. If we feel so, then we must have the courage to stand up and get the gold medal for the country.

I think they must be provided with a lot of support from the country, and I am sure they need it more than anyone else here.

Sumit

India should improve hockey players' performance by motivating them and giving them equal importance as cricket. After all, they also add value to our presence globally. We are Indians, and hockey is our national game that we shouldn't forget.

I love India, so I love hockey as much as I love India.

This is not just a failure of Indian Hockey alone. It's a complete collapse of the Indian Sports System. The system exists just for the sports officials - not for the sportsmen. Indians, being sentimental, go delirious with every 6 scored by Dhoni and every 6 crores earned by him. Seeing this, every politician just wants to associate himself with cricket only, thus all other sports rot. India cannot win in any sports until there is a major revolution in our sports administration; otherwise, INDIAN SPORTS WILL CONTINUE TO REMAIN - BY THE SPORTS OFFICIALS - for the sports officials - of the Sports Officials.

Riyaz

Sashi Kapoor was one actor in Hindi cinema who earned money in commercial films to divert his funds to art cinema. But when all his films flopped, he had to actually produce a commercial film to get over his losses. Should commercial cinema be banned as it is more popular than art cinema?

All this talk of banning cricket is unrealistic and impractical. Even if cricket or anybody were to support other sports, if the public itself does not like the sport, for how long can it last? Hockey is the national game only in name, but cricket is in letter and spirit.