New Delhi, March 14
Refusing to blame the Indian Hockey Federation for the team’s failure to qualify for the Olympics, the Indian Olympic Association today ruled out any drastic action against the IHF after the debacle.

IOA secretary-general Randhir Singh said the national Olympic body and the IHF would have a meeting next week to take stock of the debacle after India lost to Great Britain in the final of the qualifying tournament, which led to nationwide clamouring for IHF president KPS Gill’s head.

Randhir was in no mood to put the blame on the IHF and even went on to say that calling for anybody’s head to roll would serve no purpose.

“We are hurt and ashamed. Hockey is our national sport and we failed to qualify for the Olympics. But it is not right to blame the IHF or for that matter any individual for the debacle. It is a collective failure and we have to find out what went wrong,” he said at a press conference here.

“It is a wake-up call, but what is the point of asking somebody to resign? By doing that India is not going to qualify for the Olympics. It is over now.

“A Jothikumaran or a Gill is not responsible for the loss. The team did not play well (against Britain). I am not blaming the players, but we have to see why the team did not play well,” he said.

“IOA president Suresh Kalmadi, myself, the IOA technical members and IHF officials will have a meeting next week and will look into what went wrong and take corrective action.”

On persistent query from the journalists why Gill had been running the show for so long without getting results on the field, Randhir made it clear that the IOA would not wield the stick on the federation.

“IHF is a democratically elected body and there is no question of IOA telling who should resign and who should be elected. We will see whether the IHF has slipped up somewhere or not, but don’t pre-empt the matter,” a belligerent Randhir responded to media queries whether there was any plan to disaffiliate IHF.

He also said that International Hockey Federation chief Els van Breda Vriesman had called him up from Jordan (where she was attending a conference) expressing her disappointment at India failing to qualify and to discuss with IHF why it happened.

FIH had warned a few days back that India could miss out on hosting the 2010 men’s hockey World Cup if it was not satisfied with the steps taken to revive the game in the country.

Randhir refused to be drawn into the controversy of technical advisor Ric Charlesworth not being taken in the loop, saying that the Australian was recommended by the IHF and it was their call what to do with him.

Randhir would not agree to any government interference even at this hour of crisis. — PTI

It was a painful homecoming for the team and I feel sorry for the boys. The team’s failure to qualify for the Olympics evoked strong reactions in the country and it is now very important to support the players in these difficult times.

The past few days have given me the time to ponder about what went wrong in Santiago and I feel that we could have still made it to Beijing if the umpiring was not biased against us.

We were just not allowed to play our natural game in the final match against Great Britain by the umpires and the tournament director. There was a discreet conspiracy by the FIH and Britain.

In our league match against Britain, we received two yellow cards. Our boys were pulled up without reason and these cards were not warranted. But the British were getting away scot free.

Tushar Khandekar was hooked in the penalty area and was floored. No stroke was given, which we deserved. Vikram Khan getting a yellow card was justified. But the British player, who was also involved in the incident, was given a warning.

Shivendra Singh was given a yellow card when he slipped over there. The British player had hooked Shivendra and no penalty was awarded or a card given to him.

The incident was viewed on the video after the match and the umpire’s blunder was accepted by the tournament director.

But then, India paid a heavy price for these lapses.

After the league match against Britain, the tournament director called our manager and the three Indian players at the ground. They offered to show the video clippings that our players had indulged in fouls.

The same night, the boys were called from their rooms at 11 pm and given a letter saying that “This is not the way you all should be playing. You are all international players. How can you play like this and we are warning you. You all will be severely pulled up in the final match.”

They literally psyched out our main players. Why did they call Gurbaz Singh when he had not received a yellow card at all? It was just to put us under pressure ahead of such a crucial match.

Our boys had mentally lost the game even before going onto the field. They were totally shattered. Gurbaz and other players were asking me as to how they can go for a tackle when they were sure that they will be given yellow cards and suspensions.

People concerned in the FIH require their privacy and do not want to be disturbed. It is also a mystery to me as to how the hotel management allowed international players disturbed at the dead of the night. I believe there are some new rules brought in by the FIH.

The tournament director applied pressure on our boys on the pretext of a complaint by the British coach for intentional fouls by our players. The video replay showed that Gurbaz had not touched any player. The umpire also did not warn Gurbaz. How can the tournament director issue Gurbaz such a severe letter?

When I queried they said this is something new that the FIH has started recently. But, can they come at 11 in the night?

Definitely, our boys were under pressure.

When I announced that I will quit, the boys were so upset that they all came to me and pleaded to me that I should not quit. They all said we do not want anybody to come and spoil the composition of the team built all these 10 months. It is just one bad match that we played. They said that if I quit they will be totally shattered and they do not want to continue.

I am going to mention all these in my report to the IHF, which goes to the SAI and the sports ministry also.

The FIH did not post neutral umpires as has been the practice in such tournaments. When they had a European and a South African to officiate in our final match, why they did not have an Asian to officiate with the European or South Africans? They cannot because an Asian will not succumb to FIH to fix India. — PTI

New Delhi, March 14
The beleaguered Indian hockey team can take some consolation that an “insider”, who was part of the team which went to Santiago for the Olympic qualifier, has spoken up for them by giving a graphic account of the plight of the team in their to-and-fro flights.

Team doctor Dr PSM Chandran has vividly described the 34-hour “agonising journey” of the team from Santiago to Mumbai via Sao Paulo and Johannesburg, and the terrible reception the “mentally and physically exhausted” team got at the Mumbai International Airport where the media ripped them apart for failing to qualify for the Olympics.

He said it was the worst kind of “celebrating defeat”, and to rub salt into the wounded ego and psyche of the team, there were not even vacant chairs for the player to sit when their plane landed at the unearthly hour of 2 am. He said even the supervisor at Counter No. 67 of the arrival lobby was dismissive when requested to provide some chairs for the exhausted players to relax before they could take their connecting flights, despite the fact that they were also wearing India blazers.

The doctor said the curt reply of the “supervisor” was, “Sorry doctor, we are helpless. If they cannot find any vacant chair, they have to find some other way out.”

To add to the misery of the already shattered players, a dozen of them, despite possessing Mumbai-Bangalore return tickets, which, they were assured at the time of the departure of the team to Santiago that they could change it to their respective home towns, were denied that facility as the airlines curtly told them that there was no “rerouting of the tickets”.

Dejected, the players checked in for Bangalore, which would have taken an extra day for players from Hyderabad, Chennai, Ranchi and Chandigarh to reach their homes. But Chandran said the inconvenience caused to the players on their return trip was nothing compared to the testing time they had while flying to Santiago.

Travel agents Balmier and Lawrie booked the hockey team on a Bangalore-Mumbai-Johannesburg (South Africa)-Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Santiago route, which involved “four flights, four countries, two domestic airports, three international airports and 44 hours of journey, including flights and transits”. The team reached Chile only two days before their first match in an Olympic qualifier.

This strenuous journey could have been avoided had the team been booked in the Bangalore to Santiago (via Frankfurt) flight by Lufthansa. Chandran said neither the Indian Hockey Federation nor the government could be blamed for the circuitous route in which the hockey team had to fly, as it was the responsibility of the travel agent to ensure a comfortable flight for the team since the government was making the payment.

But Chandran noted that there was a silver lining at the end of the agonising journey as the team had a great benefactor in Indian Ambassador to Chile Sushmita Thomas, “who, along with her embassy staff and other Indians were at the grounds to cheer our players, proudly waving the Indian flag and beating of drums. When we lost the final, she consoled the players to forget about the defeat and look ahead for positive gains in future”.

Chandran said Mrs Thomas also went out of her way to host the team for a dinner at the embassy and also ensured that the team got one Indian meal every day, cooked by the families of the embassy staff and the ambassador herself, which was then sent to the hotel of the players for them to have a nice repast.

Dr Chandran said the players were really shattered by the terrible reception they got on reaching home, which has demoralised many of them for taking up the game of hockey at all!

New Delhi, March 14
A number of MPs are trying to seek the Prime Minister’s intervention for the removal of IHF chief KPS Gill in the wake of India’s failure to qualify for the Olympics.

Aslam Sher Khan, former hockey star and MP, has launched a campaign to remove Gill from the post and claimed to have got the signatures of 100 MPs till now.

“The MPs are very angry and want me to do something to save hockey and remove Gill. All senior and new MPs have come together and I have collected signatures of around 100 members and the memorandum will be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday or Tuesday. The number of supporting MPs could go up to 200,” Aslam told PTI.

A member of the 1975 World Cup winning team, Aslam said sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar could not shirk his responsibility to take action against the IHF chief.

Aslam said since there had been precedences of the government taking action against the IHF administration in the past, the MPs decided to approach the Prime Minister for help.

The memorandum addressed to the PM says, “As the leader of the country we ask you to follow the precedent which late Indira Gandhi took when Indian hockey faced a similar situation in 1983.

“She took immediate action by asking the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to dissolve IHF and create an ad hoc committee,” it said.

The former fullback also lambasted Gill for the decline of hockey in the country over the past few years.

“Gill is behaving like a wild elephant which is crushing everyone’s head,” he added. — PTI

Dubai, March 14
After his brilliant performances in the recently concluded CB Series Down Under, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar occupies the top spot in the ICC ODI batting rankings, while Team India jumped one spot to the third position behind South Africa and Australia.

In the ODI batting charts, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is at the seventh position, is the only other Indian batsman in the top 10.

Gautam Gambhir is placed at the 12th spot with 167 points, while Yuvraj Singh (155 pts) is at in the 17th position.

West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul (191 pts) is placed second.

He is closely followed Mohammad Yousuf (190) from Pakistan while Brendon McCullum (188) from New Zealand is fourth.

However, none of the Indian bowlers could enter the top 10 in the ODI rankings. Ishant Sharma (155 points) is the highest placed Indian bowler at the 11th spot while compatriot Sreesanth (150 points) is at the 12th position followed by RP Singh (134 points) who is ranked 18th.

Unlike the Australian batsmen, the bowlers from Down Under continue to rule the ODI rankings. Brett Lee (196 points) is at the top of the bowling charts. Nathan Bracken (181) and Mitchell Johnson (179) are at the fourth and the fifth positions, respectively.

In the team rankings, India are at the third position with 99 points followed by New Zealand (90 pts). — UNI

Dhaka, March 14
Captain Graeme Smith hit an unbeaten half-century as South Africa beat Bangladesh by seven wickets in the third and final one-day international today to sweep the series 3-0.

After bowling out Bangladesh for 143 in 42.5 overs, South Africa comfortably reached 147 for three in 34.2 overs, losing opener Herschelle Gibbs (10), Alviro Petersen (24) and AB de Villiers (40).

With the series victory, South Africa reclaimed the top spot in the world one-day rankings ahead of Australia.

Smith’s unbeaten 68 was his 36th ODI half century. He faced 94 balls and hit three boundaries and three big sixes, including the winning shot.

Smith passed 5,000 runs in one-dayers when he reached 52.

Earlier, Albie Morkel took four wickets, and Johan Botha three to help South Africa bundle out Bangladesh for a paltry total.

Opener Shahriar Nafees top-scored with 25, followed by Farhad Reza with an unbeaten 20 and Nazim Uddin (20). — Reuters

Melbourne, March 14
Giancarlo Fisichella assured Force India has not entered the elite Formula One league just to make the numbers as the veteran Italian came an impressive ninth in the afternoon practice session ahead of Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park here.

A three-time F1 winner, Fisichella braved sweltering heat here today to post timings that brought cheers to the Force India camp.

Meanwhile, the fierce rivalry between world champion Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton continued here too with Raikkonen topping the timesheet at 1 minute 26.461 seconds during the first 90-minute session, while the British teen clocked 1:26.559.

In the morning session, Fisichella timed 1m 29.230s to finish 12th. Force India’s Adrian Sutil finished 17th at 1m 30.155s.

In the second session, Fisichella bettered his timing to clock 1m 28.469s to finish ninth. Sutil too improved his pace and timed 1:29.161 even though he remained at the same 17th place. — PTI

Hyderabad, March 14
Rahul Dravid’s superb 139 off 138 balls went in vain as South Zone lost to East Zone by 23 runs in a Deodhar Trophy match here today.

Batting first after winning the toss, East Zone piled up 274 for 5 in the allotted 50 overs. Saurabh Tiwary hit 73 (90) balls), while Laxmi Ratan Shukla smashed an unbeaten 72 (66 balls). Shukla’s knock was studded with five sixes. Sourav Ganguly (1) was run out.

In reply, South lost openers Dinesh Karthik (3) and Robin Uthappa (16) early. Dravid held the South innings together with a sparkling century (13 fours and a six). He received good support from Arjun Yadav (42), but the absence of the injured VVS Laxman was a major setback for the hosts.

Dravid’s departure — when the team score was 249 — virtually sealed the match for East Zone. They took the last three wickets in a jiffy to win by 23 runs. Dhiraj Goswami (3-42) and Ranadeb Bose (2-40) were the main wicket-takers.

Brief scores: East Zone: 274 for 5 in 50 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 73, Laxmi Ratan Shukla 72 not out; Vinay Kumar 3-69)

South Zone: 251 all out in 48.3 overs (Rahul Dravid 139, Arjun Yadav 42; Dhiraj Goswami 3-42, Ranadeb Bose 2-40)

Praveen, Piyush bowl Central to victory

Bangalore: Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla picked three wickets each as Central Zone beat defending champions West Zone by six wickets in the lacklustre opening clash of the Deodhar Trophy here on Friday. Sent into bat, Wasim Jaffer-led West Zone were bundled out for 98 in 29.1 overs. Mohammad Kaif’s side hit the required runs in 20.1 overs losing four wickets.

Brief scores: West Zone: 98 all out in 29.1overs (Nayar 39, Rahane 10; Chawla 3-11, Praveen Kumar 3-18, Kartik 2-20)

Central Zone: 99 for four in 20.1 overs (Naman Ozha 25, Faiz Fazal 24; Ajit Agarkar 2-35, Siddharth Trivedi 2-41). — Agencies