India gets stick for ignoring hockey

[1]

The Indian hockey team’s pathetic performance at the London Olympics was symbolic of the national game’s pitiful state in the country.

With power-hungry administrators divided into two groups for the control of the sport, hockey remains uncared-for in schools and colleges across the country. Hockey teams in Chennai schools are dwindling by the day.

Hockey used to be a rage in Anglo-Indian schools in the city but almost all institutions have given up on the game now.

Mr Alexander Cornelius, physical education teacher at CSI St. Paul’s, has been conducting a state level tournament in the city for the last 10 years.

He says hockey has few takers. Barring academies supported by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, there is no support for the game in private and government schools. Mr Cornelius says he is struggling to get adequate number of teams for his annual tournament.

“First of all, there is a paucity of grounds in the city. Another big issue is the spiralling cost of hockey sticks. The price of even a junior hockey stick has gone beyond `500. A good, standard stick costs not less than Rs 750.

The prices are prohibitive for students from poor families,” Mr Cornelius reasoned.
The fund allocated for sports in government schools is meagre.

From buying equipment to spending money on travel and accommodation to take part in outstation tournaments, the expenses for running sports teams have gone through the roof. But fund allocation never keeps pace.

With government schools brimming with talent in sports such as football, hockey, volleyball and athletics, it is a pity that shortage of money is proving to be a stumbling block for their development, he lamented.

Another big headache in team sports is unfair selection. More often than not, talented players are ignored in preference to those who can pull strings through money and political connections.

According to Mr Cornelius, Balaji, one of the best players of his school, failed to get into the preliminary district hockey squad for the school games federation of India national meet. Balaji is so good that he had no problem in getting selected for the state team.

“I was stunned to see an athlete conducting the hockey selection. I feel flawed selection is driving many parents towards individual sports in India,” he added.

Mr Cornelius may be right. India won all their six Olympic medals at London in individual sports.