India field hockey coach Joaquim Carvalho resigned yesterday 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 (IHC) 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," Batra said. "This is the lowest point in Indian hockey and we in the federation must take the blame for it."
There was, however, no reaction from Gill, the former "supercop" credited with wiping out Sikh militancy in Punjab in the 1980s.
Batra was, however, not convinced that any attempt would be made to overhaul the sport's administration.
"Is anyone really concerned?" he said. "The sports ministry has already demoted hockey as a priority sport although it remains our national sport."
"Gill and the others will lie low for a few days and the debacle will be forgotten soon. We will be back to square one," Batra said.
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.
Carvalho, however, dismissed fears that Indian hockey would not recover from the latest defeat in a country where cricket rules.
"Failure to qualify for the Olympics is not the end of the road," the outgoing coach said.
"But we must start from scratch. We must retain the core team and perhaps even induct a few junior players. Some of the seniors will have to think hard about their future in international hockey," Carvalho said.
Former international Viren Rasquinha, who retired earlier this year to pursue management studies, said the exit from the Olympics was "one hell of a blow."
"It was almost taken for granted that we will be part of the Olympics," he said.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
RSS