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‘Seniors can play for India’
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SportsDesk on 01 May, 2008 02:49:42
 
By Abhilasha Sihag
New Delhi, May 1: Since its inception in 1925, the Indian Hockey Federation has
seen its share of ups and downs. Faced with a crisis and now handed an ad-hoc
selection committee appointed by the IOA, the panel met for its first session in
the capital, on Thursday, to discuss the future of the sport, though the
immediate concern is the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia which begins on May
8.
Committee chairman Aslam Sher Khan laid out the ground rules — selection to
be purely on the basis of trials and completely transparent.
With the team set to leave for Malaysia the work for the five member appointed
committee has just begin. Speaking on the occasion, Khan hinted at "no changes"
in the present team touring Australia ahead of the Azlan Shah tournament."
Khan also left the door open for former players to return. "We will ask the
former players why they quit the game.
"If the reason was a fallout with the administration and if the player is fit
enough and can perform well in local tournaments, he has a bright chance of
returning to the national team."
Clearly stating the Indian Olympic Association’s stand on the panel, IOA
secretary general Randhir Singh said, "The IOA will not interfere with the
working of the ad-hoc committee at all. Our job was to appoint a committee. We
will support them but not interfere in their day-to-day working."
After the Azlan Cup, the committee will focus on the revival of domestic hockey
and of various tournaments including the Indira Gandhi Cup. Said former Olympian
Ashok Kumar, "It is very important at this stage to revive the game and it can
only be done with revival of various tournaments in the country."
Echoing the sentiment, Khan also laid emphasis on supporting traditional hockey
centres like like Sansarpur, Jalandhar, Bhopal, Lucknow and Chennai.
A major reason for the failure of the men’s and women’s hockey teams in the
Olympic qualifier was lack of practice.
The committee highlighted plans for hosting matches among different domestic
teams and inviting international teams to play in the country.
Commenting on the coach, former player Ajit Pal Singh also on the panel, said,
"If the senior team travels then the senior coach, A. K. Bansal will go along.
However, nothing is for certain at the moment. Ric Charlesworth will travel with
the team though."
Charlesworth, the team’s technical director and selection committee advisor,
said that he has made recommendations to the ad-hoc committee.
The Australian, who seemed extremely disappointed with the functioning of the
IHF over the past few weeks, refused to disclose what he had put forward. He,
however, wished that the ad-hoc committee followed them, else it would be very
hard to revive the national sport.
This is, however, not the first time that IHF has been suspended. It was
earlier dissolved in 1974 and in 1978 in a bid to revive the sport. Thirty years
later, the game is still the one that is suffering.