Former hockey players on Friday lambasted KPS Gill for terming the greats of the game as “professional mourners” and said the IHF chief should own up his own failures instead of making such “stupid” statements.
After India’s failure to qualify for the Olympics for the first time ever, former Olympians and greats of the game had criticised Gill and held his “autocratic ways of functioning” as the reason behind the country’s flop show.
India has won 8 Gold medals in the Olympics and this year’s early exit is a national shame. The embarrassment was evident while the disheartened players were receiving medals of participation. Blame it on the popularity of cricket or less funds for Hockey, a loss is a loss.There is no way I would watch the Hockey matches in the US, so I switched on my TV, surfed for NDTV 24×7 and was expecting the news of India’s qualifying. But India lost. I couldn’t believe it. The national sport of India is not able to make it to the qualifiers.
There are still a few Indian athletes competing. NDTV 24×7 is now weighing the odds for other participants. The news channel is available in the US only through DirecTV. This is the only way I can stay abreast of India-centric news despite being in a different continent.
Tags: Hockey, National Sport, NDTV in the US, NDTV on DirecTv, News from India, Olympics, Satellite TV
