Rick Charlesworth, according to them, is the man with a magic wand who can transform Indian hockey. One respects the FIH decision and also the man himself. But no one can force any country to accept the dictates of the Federation. And in this case India is not a country which is new to hockey. It has a rich tradition and has been a world power in the game. Let India run its hockey the way it wants. It is a matter of chance that the team did not qualify this year for the Olympics. Has the FIH taken so much pains with some of the other countries which have failed to make the grade? Why then this sudden compulsion and compassion for India, where its own government has downgraded it from the priority list to general category?

The one possible answer is that it is the FIH which needs India and not the other way about. It needs Indian hockey because without India there may not be hockey in the Olympics. India with its huge following and the money which flows with the demand is the reason why the FIH wants India in the Olympics. Without India there are no takers for television coverage on a large scale and that means no sponsors. None of the TV majors would risk covering an event for which there is very little demand. No demand means no income and only heavy losses.

Generally Doordarshan spends a lot of money in buying TV services when India is playing in the Olympics. Other countries, like Australia, Holland, Germany for instance would be interesting in the semi-finals and final while Pakistan would opt for the matches the team plays .But without India and Doordarshan hockey would be a losing game in every respect. As reported in the media a couple of months ago, "India is the only reason that hockey continues to be an Olympic sports. After all it is not easy to justify ignoring a sport popular in a country of more than a billion."

It is true that hockey's survival in the Olympic Games is doubtful. It just does not have a popular appeal. But why blame India? O.K. it has not qualified this year but that does not mean that the game is dead in India. In any case it has convincingly made the grade for the World Cup in 2010 and there is no way it can be prevented from playing in it, whether the tournament is held in India or Australia. Agreed not qualifying for the Olympics is bad, particularly for a team which has won the title half a dozen times. But these things are a part of the game and India is bound to come back strongly. After all, irrespective of the country's international ratings, India still has the largest number of tournaments and the largest number of players in the world.

Ramu Sharma, Syndicate Features