Olympians hail truce, but want HI to do more

Mumbai: Former Olympians today said the kind of commiseration that flowed in for the agitating hockey

players shows how much love people of the counrty have for the game and blamed poor marketing for all the ills plaguing the sport in India. Offers of financial assistance poured in from all quarters as politicians, doctors and corporates after national hockey players pulled out of the World Cup preparatory camp demanding clearnce of due pay and incentives. Olympians M M Somaya and Joaquim Carvalho hailed the truce between the striking players and the administrators which was achieved after the IOA intervention but said it`s time to devise a proper marketing plan. "It`s time the game is marketed in the right manner. The (suspended) Indian Hockey Federation had rested on its laurels after we won the World Cup in 1975. Had hockey been marketed the way cricket was after its 1983 World Cup triumph things would have been different," Carvalho said. Somaya also wanted Hockey India to concentrate on marketing the game better and give due importance to sponsors. "That has always been the problem with hockey administration for the last thirty years, lack of transparency. We have to market the game better and rebuild the entire image of the game," said the member of the 1980 Olympic gold medal-winning team. Carvalho also wanted the game`s administrators and selectors to be held accountable whenever the team fails just as the players are. "They go into a hiding whenever the team fails and the players are the only ones to get punished," Carvalho said. Somaya said he was hurt by the statement of interim President of Hockey India that the players were after money and not interested in playing for the country. "I always felt it was a fair representation by the players and not a strike as has been made out. And I was deeply hurt by the statement issued that the players were preferring money over country," three-time Olympian Somaya said. Somaya`s former club and India teammate Carvalho also welcomed the truce but said the stand-off between the players and Hockey India was a lesson for the new administrators. "This is a good lesson for those who would take over the reins of Hockey India to treat the players as national treasures. Hockey is our national sport and players should not be taken lightly," said the former national coach. PTI