Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Indian hockey

The failure of the Indian hockey team to qualify for the Beijing Olympics has opened a can of worms.

There is hardly any interest among the people and officials over the sorry state of hockey in the country. The youngsters are attracted to cricket more than any other sport because of the fame and riches associated with it. If the BCCI could donate one-tenth of its earnings to the development of hockey in the country, a lot could be done.

P. Karthik,
Chennai

When their counterparts in cricket are given preferential treatment, it is only natural for the step-motherly treatment given to hockey to have an adverse impact on the psyche of the players.

Vasa Srinivasa Murthy,
Visakhapatnam

A lot is being said and written about the hockey debacle. Let us be realistic. A lot of improvement has taken place in the standard of hockey played by the European countries on Astroturf. Indian hockey has not maintained the class which it had till the 1960s. A win here or there cannot lift the standard of the game. In comparison, Indian cricket has improved by leaps and bounds.

I.C. Pande,
Pithoragarh

Thanks to the media, the popularity of cricket has come at the cost of the near-disappearance of the national game. Of course, things must change once they are at their worst and hockey cannot decline further. A systematic approach bereft of any politicking can do the trick to revive our past glory.

Arun Dash,
Hyderabad

India could reign supreme in hockey between 1928 and 1956 when the game was not popular in other countries. The position changed slowly but steadily. The same can happen in cricket too. Only a handful of countries play the game today. If Germany, the U.S. and China start playing cricket, things can be different.

J.P.R. Tucker,
Tiruchi

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