India notes: Another round of musical chairs by IHF

By sacking coach Bhaskaran and skipper Ramandeep Singh the Indian Hockey Federation has followed the unfortunate precedent set after the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1998. The difference is that, whereas the sacking of coach Kaushik and captain Dhanraj Pillay came after a gold-medal winning performance, this time the move has followed after a indifferent showing in the Sydney Olympics.

K.P.S. Gill, the supremo of the IHF, has thought nothing of changing his mind while announcing the Federation's cleaning up campaign. When reminded that he had ruled out any change of coach after the Olympics, Gill rendered the reporters speechless by saying "Yes, we have been inconsistent. But it happened. We needed a change."

If the sacking of the coach in particular was inconsistent with his earlier pronouncement and totally illogical, the return of Ashish Balal to the fold of Indian hockey family was equally inconsistent, but a welcome process. Balal, who was one of the players goading Indian Airlines to the gold medal in the recently concluded National Championship at Jammu, had been very vocal against the policies of the IHF and was understandably one of the Federations pet aversion. But now he is back in the "fold" as it were, not as a player, but as an assistant coach for the goalkeepers.

The change of coach is rather unfortunate though quite consistent with the policy adopted by the IHF since K.P.S. Gill has taken over as President. No coach is really allowed to function for long. The only thing is that the IHF seems to be playing "musical chairs" as far as this very important post is concerned.

Cedric D'Souza, who has been sacked earlier, has been brought back to replace Bhaskaran, who himself had come in after Kaushik was replaced after the teams gold medal win at Bangkok. As for the sacking of Ramandeep is concerned, it is quite possible that the half-back's performance has gone against him. He was certainly not the as brilliant as last year. But why has Mohd. Riaz been clubbed with Ramandeep for the axe. Is it because he also did not take part in the recently concluded national?

The IHF, however, needs to be thanked for retaining Dhanraj Pillay and the rest of the Olympic squad. Pillay was sacked after the Bangkok Asian Games, but is now a sort of a hero with the Federation. On the positive side is the inclusion of seven juniors in the 43 called for trials starting in Patiala from the first week of January to select the team for the World Cup qualifiers in Scotland in July.
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Azharuddin, Manoj Prabhakar and Ajay Jadeja may have to return the Arjuna Awards if one has to believe the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Uma Bharati. She said as much in reply to a question in parliament on Wednesday. She did, however, clarify that the players, serving a ban order imposed on them by the Board, will be given a chance to give their point of view.

Considering the seriousness of the misdemeanours of the concerned players, the confiscation of the national awards would be deemed just. But unwittingly Uma Bharati has created doubts about the credentials of the CBI, the investigating authority.

Linking the issue to what she called the "incorrect" charges filed against Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi and herself on the Babri Masjid demolition case she said she would not be surprised if the CBI had mishandled the cases of cricketers, Ajay Jadeja and Mohammad Azharuddin. "Jadeja maintains he is innocent, perhaps he is innocent," she commented. "I am having second thoughts on the CBI report on cricket match fixing." A very irresponsible statement from a minister who is in-charge of sport and is a party to the decision taken by the Board.
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The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) which has so far kept silent on the issue of drug-abuse by sportspersons will now have to take more interest in the problem if it has to escape censure from the law. The reason is that the Delhi High Court has informed the IOA to be a party in a public interest litigation seeking probe into the systematic use of drugs by sportspersons to enhance their performance in collusion with authorities.

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) which had also been involved in the case had sought to shift the responsibility on the national level federations to screen the players. Hence the notice to the IOA. The next hearing is faxed for February 8.