Consider this. John Wright After the Indian victory at Multan says that all credit must go to the boys and he would like to remain behind the scenes. But the Indian hockey coach ,Rajinder and the permanent "COP" of I.H.F.,Gill won't allow any Indian team to settle down.Can anyone tell me how long has Gill been at the helm of th federation. Rajinder cannot stand Dhanraj's popularity. Gill wants to police the team around. Anywhere in the world,Indian hockey means Dhanraj.This man has made his mark right from the French league to the Singapore clubs. But here is the coach who advices his boys not to pass the ball to Dhanraj. Ridiculous ,Isn't it. No wonder the hockey system is in tatters in our nation today.Very similar to the Pak cricket system.
Dhanraj has been the back bone of Indian hockey... It is just that the man is too emotional about the game. Thus there is always a controversy between him and the officials. It is really not good for India to leave a man of such caliber for any tournament. They had left him out during Olympic qualifiers and India finished fourth. Although we qualified but the result would have been different if he played. Yet again he is left out without reason.. I really feel that too much of politics is destroying India's national game. If, he is selected for the Olympics then one shouldn't expect magic from him because he has not played with the team at international level for long. I regard him as the most dedicated player who just plays the game for his country. We need such players for the survival of our national game.
Once again Indian hockey is being sacrificed at the altar of petty politics and game of oneupmanship. It has happened before and is happening again. IHF is grossly mismanaged by the likes of Gill who run it like their "baap ki jaagir." In recent days it has become fashionable by the IHF brass to criticise Cricket for the neglect of hockey by media and people. To certain extent it may be true, but largely it is the hockey establishment (read IHF) to be blamed. Whereas cricket is run extremely professionally by the BCCI, and the rewards of good performance are shared by everybody, including the players, IHF is a grossly mismanaged body whose officials are only concerned with their own benefits, players be damned!! People like Dhanraj are mistreated for speaking against the system. No wonder hockey has declined both in terms of performance and popularity. Sadly, this is the state of most of the sports in the country
