Time for Gill to go, says former Olympic gold medallist

New Delhi, Dec 12 (UNI) The Doha Asiad debacle is the lowest that Indian hockey could touch, feels former Olympian and Arjuna awardee Harbinder Singh but the optimist in him believes that the game's fortunes will change for good if IHF supremo KPS Gill resigns.

''Change is always better. It is very obvious that the performance of our team during his tenure has not been good. I would say he has to follow his conscience and decide what is good for the game,'' Harbinder, who was a part of the gold medal wining teams in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1966 Bangkok Asiad, told UNI in an interview.

Surprised that a senior player like Viren Rasquinha was left out of the team despite being in the training camps before the Asiad, the former centre-forward said if the mid-fielder had to be dropped, the IHF should have not picked him in the list of probables in the first place.

''Viren should not have been dropped at that stage. That was a big blunder. After all the man has given four years to the team. You do not treat a senior player like that. If the IHF wanted to drop him, they should not have called him to the training camps. Leaving him out at the last minute was very unfair,'' the former star, who played with and under Dhyan Chand said.

Harbinder felt Viren's unceremonoius exit also affected the morale of other players and said the IHF was not fair to the mid-fielder.

''It was very unfortunate. This kind of move also affects the morale of others. Viren's exit was not expected and it was very ungraceful to say the least,'' he said.

Speaking about the team's performance in the Doha Asiad, Harbinder said the loss to China proved to be the turning point for the Indians, who could never recover from the shock 2-3 defeat.

''The loss to China was the biggest blow to India's hopes. We failed to convert sitters and you can't afford to do this against a novice team. India was supposed to win that match but they just couldn't match up to the speed and agility of the Chinese. That defeat cost them very dearly in the end,'' he explained as he assessed India's campaign, which will see them return without a medal for the first time in the history of Asian Games.

But the former centre-forward refused to blame the poor show on coach V Bhaskaran and said the onus rests on the players to perform on the field.

''The coach can plan strategies for you. He cannot go and play.

The players are the ones who have to take the responsibility for their performance,'' he said.

However, Harbinder remains optimistic about Indian hockey's future and says some simple measures can revive the game and bring back the glory days.

''Our base is very weak. Something needs to be done urgently to bring back hockey at the grassroot level. The IHF has to wake up to the poor condition of the game and immediately take some positive steps,'' he suggested.

Talking about India's road to Olympics, which has become tougher as they will now have to play qualifiers, Harbinder said the task looks difficult but there was still time for the Indians to regroup and make a comeback.

''We will have to fight really hard. There is still a year to go before Beijing and I think something can be done in between. We have to make a start somewhere. We need to build a team which has one or two good senior players with some fresh talent. And every player needs to have the fire to perform,'' he said.

UNI PM DH BST1348