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| September 20, 2006 | Wednesday | Sha'aban 26, 1427 |
Indian hockey chief defends Cup flop
NEW DELHI, Sept 19: India's field hockey chief on Tuesday said he was neither surprised nor disheartened at his team's disastrous World Cup, blaming the media instead for highlighting players' flaws.
India, former masters of the game, lost five of their seven matches to finish a miserable 11th out of 12 at the World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany.
Kunwar Pal Singh Gill, a celebrated police chief who now heads the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), played down the dismal show and urged the media to concentrate on the positives.
“Indian hockey has turned around, the future is bright,” Gill said in a television programme amid calls for a change of guard in the IHF administration following the World Cup, which finished on Sunday.
“When I took over the IHF (in 1994) I had said I needed 10-12 years to bring a turnaround in the sport. And I believe that has happened.
“I want to live in 2003 when we won the Asia Cup and also won the Afro-Asian gold medal.”
The outspoken Gill said he was not surprised at India's poor show at the World Cup, including the 1-6 defeat to the Netherlands.
“It was expected. I have never seen a defence line that is so poor,” he said.
Gill said the media pointed fingers only at hockey and ignored India's bad displays in other sports.
“When it comes to accountability, is anybody talking about the football team's recent 1-7 defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia?” he asked.
“Had Tendulkar not done well, the cricket team would have crashed on its face the other day (in the Malaysia tri-series).
“Is anybody talking about that?” the 71-year-old Gill said, rubbishing demands that he make way for a fresh administration.”—AFP
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