The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Implement special plans, says FIH boss

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Implement special plans, says FIH boss

S. Thyagarajan

— FILE PHOTO

Els van Breda Vriesmann.

Chennai: Els van Breda Vriesman, President, International Hockey Federation, has urged the Indian Hockey Federation to take advantage of the special FIH-IOC sponsored project to develop in deficient areas and make use of the experience and expertise of Australian coach, Ric Charlesworth, without delay.

In an e-mail message to The Hindu, Ms Els wrote:

“Having followed the Olympic Qualifier in Santiago as usual with a lot of interest through the FIH website, I would like to congratulate Great Britain (on) the victory and qualification for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

“I can imagine this is a disappointment for India, as it is for all other teams that did not qualify. The Indian men’s team is the record gold medallist in our sport, and has participated in all Olympic Games from 1928 until 2004. But sport is sometimes is hard, and only the best 12 teams in the world will participate, at the Olympics.

“The result shows that Indian hockey now needs to implement the Operational Plans which were provided nearly a year ago as part of the ‘Promoting Indian Hockey’ project, without any further delay.

“In these plans, Ric Charlesworth is going to play an instrumental role for a more structural development of Indian hockey in the long term, while he can also be of great assistance in the short term with the help of the Ministry of Sports and the Indian Hockey Confederation.

“The result also confirms that Indian hockey really needs this help to get back to the level in accordance with their potential. The project ‘Promoting Indian Hockey’, supported by the FIH, the International Olympic Committee and the Indian Olympic Association, should be taken seriously to achieve progress in the identified areas of concern, amongst them the national teams of India.

“During its meetings in Lausanne starting on March 25, the FIH Executive Board will discuss further steps to be taken on continuing with the project and on the decision on the staging of the 2010 Men’s World Cup in New Delhi.

“It has been made clear that the staging of the 2010 World Cup is related to the success of the project and the world body is still waiting for signs that things are really going to happen in India.

“To conclude, I would like to wish the women’s team success during the qualifier in Kazan, Russia, from April 19 to 27. Although it will be tough to qualify for the Olympic Games, there is still a possibility an Indian team to be in Beijing.”

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