The national shame

We had our hey days in national sports -Hockey. We virtually dominated over others for years in this sports. There was a virtual gold rush for the national sports between 1928 to 1956. We finished at the podium for 11th time. We had an absolute dominance in international scene by winning six Olympic gold medals in a row, till an ignominious exit of Indian Hockey team from 2008 Olympic. We have also won the 1975 World Cup and won the Asian Games gold in 1966 and 1998. But in contrary compare the performances of Indian team you can't help hanging your head in shame. Whether one is a hockey fan or not, but it is really heartening to realize that first time in last 80 years, there will was no Indian Hockey team in Olympics. The game which used to conjure up national consciousness is not even flicker in our national memory these days. Thanks to the sorry state of affair, the game which we call our national game has reduced to a distant cousin of cricket. It is shameful that in last few years the especially in the last six World Cups (since 1986), India have finished 12, 10, 5, 9, 10 and 11. Not to mention that the team failed to qualify for Olympics. And more shameful is that, it is the performance of our hockey team under the aegis of one of our national hero, KPS Gill. He was the one who showed the door to some big names of the game claiming that he is in a process of sanitizing the game and sculpting a golden future for the game. We forgot and forgiven reposing enough faith on a man of credibility which he has shown in his service life. But was the top cop fit to be at the helm? If we go by the records, the rut may have set in earlier for hockey but, the ignominy has been witnessed mostly during the regime of KPS Gill. And what was more killing is that, Gill brazenly refused to step down. And adding insult to the raw wound he even pointed fingers at some of the media houses for making scapegoat out of him, after he was goaded for an explanation. Moreover, we both the thinking and unthinking Indians are much to be blamed for the nadir the national sports has reached. Many of our hockey heroes had warned of such a gloomy future for the game decades back. Some good souls even tried to divert our collective gaze and craze from cricket by making a beautiful movie 'Chak De'. Thanks to the movie, we sang the title song in chorus making it our theme song at every national achievement. But woefully thick-skinned Indian allowed the song to be hijacked by games other than hockey. Just before the Olympics, we witnessed our national shame as we failed to qualify for the Olympics. The team coach, Joaquim Carvalho put in his papers even before many of the Indians even heard the news of the match at Santiago. But the Hockey Federation chief brazenly held his post, even sent out a signal that he is just untouchable, whatever might be the fate of Indian Hockey. Couple of months has elapsed since then, KPS Gill has been hopping from News studio to news studios, claiming that he is no way responsible for the rut that has set in, and rather the game was fated to see this end. With the IHF President insouciance and turning the federation into a fiefdom, the sports lovers just watched in helplessness till the sting exposed the evil nexus in our national sports. Even the former sports minister refused to intervene and burn his fingers. In utter helplessness everybody looked up to rescue the game which they have loved and cheered lustily. And today the Indian Olympic Association stepped in to disband the Indian Hockey Federation and sack its premier. Is it not too late? Why did we allow the national game to remain a hostage to the autocratic whims of a few people? And the result, the national sports is has been left out in the margins of national consciousness.