August 06, 2007	Monday	Rajab 21, 1428

PATIALA (India), Aug 5: India's legendary hockey centre-half, Ajit Pal Singh, has advocated that Indian hockey which was in a pathetic state needed a top foreign coach. “We have tried all options without success, so what is the harm if we have a foreign coach for the good of Indian hockey,” he said.

The captain of the victorious 1975 World Cup squad said: “We do not have base in hockey today and no one really wants to play.

The base is shrinking which is evident from the fact that now we have 40 to 50 players at the national level, whereas in our time, there were over 120 players at the national level.”

Ajit said Punjab had been the hub of Indian hockey and now the feedback from the province to national mainstream was too fragile.

“Pargat Singh, director of sports Punjab, has been a top class hockey player and should do something at the lower level in order to produce top class hockey players as they used to do in the past,” he said.—PPI