Does IHF stand for Indian Hockey Federation or Indian Hockey F…..S?
Indian hockey is first raped and then murdered and its body dumped in some wayside canal by the men who run the show in this country.
Coach Cedric D'Souza is no saint. But he has acquired the halo of a martyr after they way he was discarded like a used tissue paper halfway through the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
The whole thing reeks of high-handedness which is so typical of Indian sport. And hockey in India has suffered more than most others at the hands of egomaniacs who have run it to the ground.
When India won the World Cup for the first (and surely it will be the only) time in 1975 in KL, IHF officials joined the team on their victory lap!
When India won the junior World Cup is Tasmania earlier this year, the top brass took all the credit. The players were left with peanuts.
Yet, after the most recent debacle, where were the officials this time? The head honcho was in Calcutta while his hatchet man does not have the guts to break the news to the coach and instead sends a small-time official to carry out his dirty work. It's a new kind of midnight knock for the former coach.
Imagine, 13 coaches in 11 years? And its not only the losing ones who find themselves as scapegoat of the month. What about MK Kaushik? He brings back gold from the Asian Games in 1998 for only the second time in 50 years. And what does he get? The golden boot! Why? Because he has the temerity to stand up for his players' rights. After, all as far as the IHF is concerned, the players are merely minions there to dance to their tune.
The Asiad gold was the first major title since 1975 (forget about Moscow'80). So what does the IHF do? In order to dodge the players' demands for just financial rewards, it goes on a disinformation and misinformation drive, trivialising the triumph at Bangkok.
It's not only the officials who are to blame. Now we have the sorry spectacle of star player Dhanraj Pillay doing their dirty work. The man who was shockingly dropped in 1998 is now sucking up to his bosses. He is using his column to malign D'Souza and align himself with the powers that be.
And do you know what happened to the team on their return to Delhi? They faced insulting comments from a female Customs official who tells them they are a disgrace to the nation and have wasted government money. Someone should tell that b….h to mind her own business.
Indian hockey RIP



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