K.P.S. Gill

It’s finally over. The era of K.P.S. Gill and K. Jyothikumaran has come to an end rather dramatically. The Indian Hockey Federation secretary was the first to go, falling victim to a television channel’s sting operation. Then on Monday, the Indian Olympic Association removed Gill by suspending the federation and appointing an ad-hoc committee, headed by Aslam Sher Khan.

I personally feel, following what has been happening over the past few days, the IHF was heading for such a fall. Once the game’s world body, the FIH, the International Olympic Committee and the IOA took notice of Indian hockey’s current state, Gill’s ouster was always on the cards.

But the future is not going to smooth. This ad-hoc committee is not going to stay and, maybe after six-10 months, an election will take place. Change is always welcome because it comes with new ideas and hope. But to me, what matters most is who will be in charge after the election and how he runs things.

Indian hockey is indeed passing through a dark phase. Or, I would probably like to put it this way, the repercussion of not qualifying for the Olympics for the first time is now hitting us hard.

Things are changing too fast and too shockingly. Ric Charlesworth was finally accommodated as an adviser in the system and the selection committee was also sacked, giving way to a special technical committee, comprising former Olympians, who have been asked to interact with the Australian and the coaching staff.

I would like to clarify that blaming members of the previous selection committee, including yours truly, is absolutely wrong since the squad for the Santiago qualifiers was picked by coach Joaquim Carvalho and chairman Gill.

The new sports minister, M.S. Gill, is perhaps doing these things with the future of the game in mind but it’s really strange to imagine that removing us could be a solution to the growing roster of problems plaguing Indian hockey.

The Jyothikumaran’s controversy has been a fresh blow to the game. The IHF secretary had to step down after a television channel aired clips showing him accepting a bribe for inducting a player into the national squad. I like to look at the Jyothikumaran episode from two perspectives. First, he was shown taking money in the sting operation leading to his removal, which is acceptable. But the second part — that he took the money for including a player in the national side — is unacceptable to me. Of course, I’m not defending Jyothikumaran but I’m not a believer in this cash-for-cap theory. Not any given time is the selection of a player linked to money. You need money for organising a tournament but not selecting a player, it’s as simple as that.

The whole incident has left a bad taste in the mouth, because it has had an adverse impact on the confidence of players, officials and fans as a whole. It also shows that Indian hockey is steadily going downhill.

There was no change in the fortunes of Carvalho’s team, chosen by the new selection committee, as they finished last in the four-nation tournament in Perth.

The FIH issued its latest warning to the IHF to clean up its act or run the risk of losing the right to the host World Cup in 2010. The FIH is in touch with the International Olympic Committee and Indian Olympic Association in this regard. If the showpiece tournament is taken away from us because of mismanagement, it will be a shame bigger than our failure to qualify for the Beijing Games.

However, the FIH should feel happy about the latest development, marked by the IOA’s intervention and Gill’s removal. I sincerely hope better sense prevails and that the chaos and confusion are sorted out quickly. Can we please think of giving Indian hockey some positive publicity?