Calcutta: Dhanraj Pillay will be associated with the Bengal Hockey Association (BHA) as its technical director.

Announcing this on Sunday, BHA president J.B. Roy said that the former India captain would also supervise the association’s various coaching clinics.

“I love to help the game in whatever capacity I can. It’s a great honour to be part of the association which has (Olympic winner) Gurbux Singh as the secretary,” Pillay said before leaving the city on Sunday.

Pillay and three others former Olympians — Ashok Kumar, Pargat Singh and Rahul Singh — were invited by the BHA to discuss the blue print for reviving the game in the state.

“We often point out that cricket has ruined all other games. I would say we, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and players, have been responsible for the game’s plight in recent times. There was no planning to market the game properly. The BHA has a 100-year-old history. But what we need is progressive thinking. Just forget what had happened in the past and think of a new beginning,” Pargat said.

Kumar stressed that coaches at junior level should have “proper knowledge” of international hockey. “The IHF has never sought our help in developing the game at grassroots level,” he lamented.

Although Roy denied speculation that his brother Subrata Roy, chairman of Sahara group, would take over the IHF, the Olympians took the federation chief K.P.S. Gill to task, saying a change of guard was needed at the top.

“It would be nice if somebody like Subrata Roy takes charge of the federation,” both Kumar and Pargat felt.

Asked whether the company ever sought to know from the IHF how the money pumped in by them was being utilised, Roy said: “We are giving money to the IHF for developing the game. It is their duty to see how it is being spent.”

In the morning, around 4000 people, including Olympians from the state — Leslie Claudius, Gurbux, Keshav Dutt, Bir Bahadur Chhetri and Jaswant Rajput, took part in a walk for the game.