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NEW DELHI: India’s field hockey coach Joaquim Carvalho resigned on
Monday after the eight-time Olympic champions failed to qualify for
the Beijing Games.
India crashed to a 2-0 defeat to Great Britain
in the final of the qualifying tournament in Santiago, Chile on
Sunday night, ending a proud record of having played in every
Olympics since 1928.
“When I took over 11 months ago, I had said I
would resign if I cannot deliver results,” Carvalho told Indian
media in Santiago.
“So now I am keeping my word. I am as
disappointed and hurt as any other Indian hockey fan.”
Indian Hockey Confederation Vice-President
Narendra Batra also resigned, hoping to put pressure on the entire
IHC administration, led by Kunwar Pratap Gill, to step down.
“I am ashamed because all of us have
failed,” said Batra. “This is the lowest point in Indian hockey
and we in the federation must take the blame for it.”
Signs that India was headed for a major fall
were evident over the last decade.
Since winning the last of their eight Olympic
golds at the western-boycotted Moscow Games in 1980, India claimed
just one major title when Dhanraj Pillay’s men took the Asian
Games gold in Bangkok in 1998.
India finished seventh in the last two Olympics
and were forced to qualify for Beijing after failing to win an Asian
Games medal for the first time at Doha in December 2006.
-- AFP
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