Olympian Ashok Kumar (right) presents a bouquet to India captain Sandeep Singh (centre) and Dilip Tirkey in Bhopal on Tuesday. (PTI)

The age-old malady of Indian hockey — that of conceding last-minute goals — was highlighted in the junior Asia Cup. After outplaying Pakistan in their pool match, the Indians lost to their old foes in the final.

It pains to talk time and again about conceding last-minute penalty corners and goals. Falling at the last hurdle is something the junior team have now done in back to back finals. They lost in the youth Olympics in Australia before losing the Asia Cup final. In the youth Olympics final, after a series of outstanding results in the group stages, our boys were pipped at the post by the hosts.

The senior team, too, suffered the same fate in the Punjab Gold Cup and on their tour of Australia.

Except for captain Diwakar Ram, I have hardly seen any of the junior players in action. I only hope that after the good show on the recent tour of Argentina, some of them can replace the old war-horses in the senior side. The squad for the Azlan Shah Cup, starting on the fifth of next month, has been announced.

I don’t agree with the policy of not trying out youngsters in a tournament like Azlan Shah, given that players like Dilip Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey, Arjun Halappa and Vikram Pillay, who have served India well for many years now, are ageing. Will they last another one and a half years? Nobody’s sure.

I’m not suggesting they should be immediately replaced, but at some stage, replacements would have to be called in and it is in tournaments like these where most teams blood in their rookies. I do understand that our ultimate goal is the 2010 World Cup and the Commonwealth Games that follows, and I only hope we do well enough to have a respectable place in the word rankings.

There is still no news on the hockey coach. I hope and wish he were brought into the picture immediately, so that he could start making strategies for future engagements.

Any coach requires a minimum of a year or thereabouts to understand the capabilities of the individuals as well as of the team. A foreigner who knows nothing about Indian culture and ethos would need more time at the helm before he becomes familiar with his wards.

On the local front, as the season comes to a close, hockey in Calcutta is going through the motions of completing the league and other tournaments.

It is heartening to know that the Astroturf at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is in place and I hope the local talent will be able to take advantage of this.

At the national level, nothing is coming out of the tussle between the Indian Olympic Association and the Indian Hockey Federation and the elections to the latter are nowhere in sight. Even in the state, the Bengal Olympic Association has disbanded the Women’s Hockey Association of Bengal, and in its place, appointed an ad hoc committee.

In my opinion, ad hocism should be a time-bound affair and the elections to the disaffiliated bodies should be held at the earliest. I’m not being critical here, but it is my strong conviction that the democratic process should be adhered to as a matter of principle.