IHF to forget World Cup debacle, to focus on Asian Games

Chennai, Sep 18 (UNI) The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) wants to put behind the senior team's debacle in the just concluded World Cup in Germany and focus on the next major assignment -- the forth coming Asian Games at Doha.

Asked about the team's dismal performance again IHF Secretary K Jyothikumaran said, ''We have learnt a lot from the World Cup. We want to rectify the mistakes and focus on preparing the team for the Asian Games.'' ''The team will return to New Delhi tomorrow. We (IHF) will have a talk with Chief coach V Baskaran and prepare the team for the Doha Asian Games,'' he told UNI.

Asked about Baskaran's observation that it was a puzzle that the team was doing things perfectly during training but failing in the matches, Mr Jyothikumaran said it is the duty of the coach to correct this flaw.

India's last major achievement in hockey was bagged the Gold in Asian Games in the Bangkok edition in 1998 under the leadership of the mercurial striker Dhanraj Pillay and coach M K Kaushik.

The Indian team performed dismally at Monchengladbach World Cup, before tasting the only success against South Africa to finish 11th in the 12-team event.

The win against the Proteas helped India to qualify for next year's Champions Challenge cup to be held in Boom, Belgium, from June 23 to July one, 2007 and get a chance to try and qualify for the 2008 Champions Trophy.

There was nothing much to rave about despite playing exceedingly well against the eventual Champions Germany in their opening encounter. In all India scored 10 goals and conceded 18 in the seven matches they played before avoiding the wooden spoon.

After losing to Germany in the dying moments, the team went down to England, before sharing points with South Africa. The defeat against South Korea and the mauling they received at the hands of Holland showed the team in poor light.

In the classification matches, India lost to Argentina before winding up with the disastrous campaign with a face-saving win over the Proteas.

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