MUMBAI, May 10: Indian men's hockey has been downgraded by the government from the priority list to the general category following the team's disappointing performance at last year's Asian Games in Qatar.

Indian hockey is grappling with declining interest at home after decades of failure at international level, and plumbed to new depths when the team failed to win a medal for the first time at the Asian Games.

“They re-categorised the disciplines based on performances in the last Commonwealth Games and Asian Games competitions,”

Indian Hockey Federation secretary K. Jothikumaran said on Thursday. “We are disappointed, but there is nothing we can do.”

It is the first time men's hockey has been taken off the priority list, a move that will cut the annual grant by half for a sport that was once the national game.

The eight-times Olympic champions are in danger of missing the Games for the first time.

Their last chance of qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics comes early next year when three tournaments, consisting of six teams each, take place to decide the last three available slots.

India finished 11th out of 12 teams at last September's World Cup, were sixth at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and last in the elite Champions Trophy on home soil.—Reuters