Its very sad to see the situation of our national game Hockey. There are lots of problem associated with it. Players dont have proper discipline and team spirit. Government is not focused on our national game. IHF is also least bothered about the problems of the game and players. In this situation we could only hope for a better future of our national game and pray for it. May this help to keep the glory of this great game in our country?
it is interesting to note...dhanraj pillay aleays is the first person to offer excuses when the team fails to live up to expectations...he did thei in all the olympics ..saying coach was bad..strategy was bad...interesting point is why doesnt he say this during the camp or the lead up.and instead only towards the end????
he did this with cedric d'souza too..who was on eof the most forward looking coaches
more than 1 bilion people were looking forward to hockey team to fetch a medal and all we got was heart sinking performance from you guys and to make it worse we see controversial interviews by players and coach.there is no use of talking bout moral and team spirit as we all know that it just doesn't exist within the team now.i request indian govt. to sack KPS GILL first who sacks anybody according to his mood and then to sack the foriegn coach and bring back rajinder.and before that for god sake get us no.5 or 6 spot at olympics somehow by sticking together as a cohesive agianst pakistan
I have seen Dhanraj playing Olympic matches. Absolutely spiritless and tame performance. I couldn't believe this is the most revered hocky player of India. He writes today there was no will to win. He is the one of those who acted in that 'No will' games. He doesn't have right to write this. Let somebody else write that there was no will and there was no heart, no mind and no body of Indian hocky in Olympic.We were only bits and pieces.
RE:Dhanraj Pillay Column
by Hockey Player on Aug 27, 2004 05:30 AM
We have seen the matches. I understand what Dhanraj says. Let me put a few facts right:
1.Playing hockey doesnt pay you mega bucks. Did you know that a year ago, Gagan Ajit Singh travelled to a training Camp in Chennai sleeping on a hold all on the floor of the train from Delhi. 2. India spent 4 crores during the run up to the Olympics in the last year. Most of it was borne by the sponsors. Irfan Pathan earned that in a year of International cricket. 3. Any person who starts blasting the Indian team (any sport) taken time to play any of those sports? 4. Does anyone care about the facilities for practice accorded to the team? 5. The random and whimsical dropping of players by the IHF? (E.g. Ballal won the man of the match in his last appearance. He saved 2 shots during the tie breaker in the asiad?) 6. Pillay-Ballal foundation for hockey in Bangalore lives on the ink cartridges from IT industries. (These are exchanged for a meagre amount from a firm in Netherlands)Give me a reason that allows all the arm chair experts to blast people from the comforts of their air conditioned offices and homes.
RE:Dhanraj Pillay Column
by Davesh on Aug 25, 2004 06:02 PM
My question to Mr Dhanraj is that get me the name of even a single player from the current hockey squad barring Dilip Tirkey who can find a place in any international side.I cant imagine theres any weak fwd line than ours.Gagan Ajit Singh who wants to be photographed all the time by the media is probably the weakest link.He DIDNT TRAP A SINGLE PASS of innumerous passes which Dilip Tirkey delivered to him. Hes as bad as one can get.Baljeet Singh Dhillon seems to be so find of the ball(mind u Hockey) that he dont wants his stick( mind u Hockey :-) ) ever to get seperated from it.He never ever give pass to anyone & Mr Pillay can i ask u HOW MANY TIMES IN YOUR ENTIRE CAREER YOU HAVE BEEN SENT OUT FOR ARGUING WITH UMPIRE & have u even for a single time been able to reverse the umpire's decision.U seem to have problem with almost everything around you.PLEASE INTROSPECT YOUR GAME & u ll find that u r a very average player as of now.U want to be popular like cricket players but everytime u dont reach the ball u have someone to complain to.Have u ever seen Tendulkar,Ganguly compaining about their team players in front of others.The basic problem i find is the lack of athletism.
RE:Dhanraj Pillay Column
by S on Aug 25, 2004 08:23 PM
This coloumn is like the pot calling the kettle dirty, specially coming from a man who cant even trap the ball cleanly in the 'D' and is playing to the gallery by over dribbling the ball.
This Indian team and the sport itself will never improve until the "adivasis" stop playing the game. The game has been ruined by the Lakra's, Topno's, Ekka's, Tirkey's and their ilk who play only to get jobs in the CISF, Railways and other such government bodies.
Our hockey team is a "bhooke nangon" ki fauj who carry a stick to earn bread (like the primitive cave man). Thats why there is absoluteley no intelligence or improvement that is ever seen.
Dear Mr Rach I pity you for you will go bonkers trying to coach a bunch of dodo's. I think you need to insist on a team of people who have an IQ that is higher than the stick that they hold (you cant ask for more there is none that is available in the hockey playing world for if they had it they would all be playing sports that pay well).
Dear Dhanraj.... Plz.... no excuses anymore. We did have lots of expectations from our beloved hockey team when u all left for Athens... and now we are just fed up with our teams performances. It's so humiliating. A country of 110 crores of population is not able to produce a medal winner. It's so frustrating. Hockey is our passion as it's our national game and weexpected all of u to regain the lost glory of Indian hockey. But u dissappointed us. It hurts, really hurts. I just can't make out, without Adrian and Dillip, how many goals would have been conceeded. It's really painful. So plz try to put up ur best in the next games. Atleast assure us a 5th place, otherwise u'll break the heart of 110 crores of Indians. Do play well against Pakistan. Our team lacks motivation and fire power. Hope, in the match against Pakistan, it'll perform its best.If u fail this time, plz don't show us ur faces. It's enough... and we can't bear it any more. Wishing our team all the best for it's upcoming matches, Biswajit
RE:No Exuses Anymore...... We are fed up
by Ashish on Aug 25, 2004 04:23 PM
We do not need Dhanraj to analyze the teams performance in Athens. Every match had only one conclusion forwards are more busy complaining about coach and strategy, barring a few like Adrian and Dilip the other defenders were taking stroll in a park. The forwards do not seem to have the very basic skill of trapping, chasing the ball, putting pressure on opposition defence. The wanted the ball to be fed to them where they were standing and failed even in that, they just failed to trap the long balls. Some players play like they are the only player from Indian side and its a 1-11 match. Players complaining about the coach, I think coach is in more hurry to finish the tournament and get rid of such humiliation. It is players not coach who is supposed to play on the field.
My problem with this whole performance is that I want to see Indian Hockey once again gaining the heights of its glorious past. But with such will and state of mind I donot think we will reach anywhere. Kenya, Ethiopia win gold medals and we complain about facilities. Its high time Indian Hockey (Everyone involved with Indian Hockey) pick up their act, if they donot want to see empty stadiums.
