1oth March 2008, saw one of the darkest day of Indian hockey. The eight time Olympic gold medalists could not even make it to the games this time. From 1928 to 2008 a lot has changed and to the demise of the entire nation it has changed for worse. The state of affairs has been alarming for a while now but yesterday's events has completely shocked the nation. Our national game has become a shame for us and a joke for many.
But who to blame for all this. If u ask for my opinion i would say the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) is wholly and solely responsible for it. And to be precise it is the IHF chief for me. The man called KPS Gill has been sitting on this post for the last 14 years now. During this period he has ran the federation like a police gang. 14 years saw 18 coaches and every tournament saw a new team. What Mr. Gill is doing even he doesn't understand. But whatever it is, it is very depressing for the players and for the sport as a whole. Many of players have left the sport and are forced to pursue other careers. The reason is the lack of facilities that the players get and the lack of attention that the sport has. Mr. Gill travels by 1st class and players by 3rd class. Mr. Gill gets to stay in 5 star hotels while our players have to stay in hotels no one has ever heard of.
IHF claims it is a autonomous organization. But can u call an organization autonomous which is not able to generate its own revenue, which has no sponsors and which runs on the aid given by the government. I hope, Mr. Gill and the federation had a better definition of autonomous.
Hockey in our country is really going down the drain and if the situation continues like this, the day is not far when we will start saying that once hockey was our national sport.
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