Crisis marring Indian hockey will end soon: Gill

AMRITSAR - Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports M.S. Gill, on Sunday said the government is keeping a watch on Indian hockey and would intervene to help where necessary.

Talking to the media after inaugurating the replaced astro turf at the hockey stadium of Guru Nanak Dev University, Gill said his ministry is determined to uplift the position of hockey and to hold the 2010 World Cup here in India.

Gill claimed that FIH President Leandro Negre-led delegation had recently arrived in India and expressed satisfaction over the progress made so far.

Gill said: “His officers are closely examining the whole thing as it is evolving if any thing is required for doing things correctly, we will look into the problem.”

Admitting the government’s complicated rule and regulations that slow the process of working, Gill mentioned that instead of increasing the number of sports coaches, efforts were directed at reducing their numbers.

He said that till a few years back, there were 1800 coaches, and now, there were only 1300.

Gill said that he was trying to correct this anomaly as quickly as possible.

Expressing satisfaction over the working of India’s anti-doping agency, Gill said the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and the setting up of a National Dope-Testing Laboratory approved by WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) are major steps in making Indian sportspersons dope-free at international competitions.

Earlier in the month, the Indian Olympic Association head Suresh Kalmadi, had announced that Hockey India was formed on May 20 with a seven member governing council led-by A K Mattoo as interim President and Vidya Stokes as Vice President. Kalmadi had said Hockey India was formed after the IOA received a warning letter from the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on May 5 in which the world body had expressed concerns about the existence of two hockey federations (separately for men and women) in the country.

Olympians Joaquim Carvalho, Gurbux Singh and Gavin Fereira recently hit out at the Indian Olympic Association for forming Hockey India, a unified body embracing the men’s and women’s unit, in an “undemocratic manner”.

Gurbux, a member of the bronze medal winning 1968 Mexico Olympics squad, termed it “a joke perpetrated on Indian hockey” and had requested Gill’s intervention.

On Saturday, the President of the suspended Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), K.P.S. Gill, said that he was ready to “cooperate” with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)-backed Hockey India but the control of the newly formed body to govern the sport in the country should rest with the State hockey associations. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)