It's most unfortunate for Indian Hockey, the way Dhanraj is been treated for quite sometime despite being in the prime of his form. I have played hockey for my university for six years and know how hard it's to sit on bench knowing that u r better than many on field. Surely he will become a history and this game will still be run by someone like Mr. Gill. May god bless sanity and IHF starts functioning like NBA/NFL of america or if we try to find something in neighborhood than like BCCI of 2003 onwards.
Wish Dhanraj is been made coach of Indian XI, but i know it's rather impossible for the time being considering state of affair with IHF.
Certainly, its very sad...the way Dhanraj left the Indian Hockey. He has done a lot for indian hockey.we should not forget his contribution to the indian hockey...
This is utter bullshit. If Dhanraj Pillay was even one-tenth the strategist *on* the field as he is *off* it (in garnering media support), then he would have been an asset to the Indian hockey team. The fact of the matter is that he is long past his prime and had no business being part of the team for Athens. He really seems to be under some delusion that he is actually a good player--he hasn't been close to such a description for the last five years or more. The only thing that makes him look somewhat okay is the fact that most of the other Indian players (especially Prabhjot, Baljeet and Harpal) were even more pathetic. It's a really sad state of affairs that there are so few youngsters taking to the game and no potential greats coming up the ranks these days.
The IHF needs to get rid of most of the current set of losers and start training a new set of schoolboys in a freshly instituted, privately managed hockey academy. That's the only way we can hope to be back at the top 12-16 years from now.
[In all fairness, Dilip Tirkey and Viren Rasquinha played their hearts out and served India well, as did Adrian D'Souza. As for the rest of the squad, the less said the better.]
Offcourse it would be heartening to get such a farewell to the player, who has always given extra effort for the team and given some memorable victories to us, though a bad period for Indian hockey.As Dhanraj has written, he has performed and lightened the game whenever he got the chance to play in this olympics.
It's no hope situation, when we see the foreign coach also getting involved in the politics.Wake up it's allready very late and hope IHF will give due respect to Dhanraj and will use him constructively in near future.
I really think its time for Dhanraj to shut up and retire in grace. He was made a here only by people. He always talked big and never deveivered. Always used the shoulders of fans when needed. He Needs to understand that we win matches not by individualism or by popularity. He talked about winning gold for India, Giving a gift on 15th August. OVER CONFIDENT. NEVER DELIVERED. Did he cry when India coundt Qualify no.
Dhanraj,you have done India proud and we Indians feel proud of you.It is not the jokers in the IHF and team mangement who have to decide.We all remember Shahid,we all will remember you for the game you played out of your heart.
It is of great pain to see a legend like Dhanraj being treated the way he has been by our so called great officials of Hockey. The contributions of Chanraj are far greater than all of them combined. Dhanraj is what Sachin Tendulkar is to Indian cricket and Don Bradman to world cricket. All officials of Hockey should be removed, not because of defeat but disrespect shown to Dhanraj.
The humiliation put on Dhanraj shows the state of Indian hockey. He deserved a better treatment in his last olympics that what was given to him. And its really a great acievement for Indian Hockey that we still get players for the Indian XI even after seeing this kind of treatment to the senior most and a wonderful player.
