PUNE: Eight awards, all for the Indians. Indian players and coaches were the stars in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) awards in all categories. The world is upset for obvious reasons as India have not won any major title and none of their players have been a top scorer or an MVP in the international tournaments for the given period. The Olympic champions, Belgium, have registered a protest against the voting system.
However, Narinder Batra feels it is the case of sour grapes for the losers. Batra was in Pune to meet the newly-elected Maharashtra Olympics Association members. He claimed he was not commentating as FIH president but as IOA president. "If you haven't got the awards, you shouldn't insult the winners," Batra told TOI.
He 'felt' that the Rio 2016 silver medallists Belgium won all the awards in 2017 ahead of gold medallists Argentina. However, Belgium and Argentina had won three awards each and the others went to players and officials from Australia, Great Britain, South Africa and Scotland.
Batra said Indians getting all awards shows better synergy among the Asian countries than the Europeans. "If only 19 out of 42 countries in Europe voted for these awards, it is not my problem. If 29 out of 32 countries voted in Asia, the credit should go to the Asian Hockey Federation for coordinating with their members to vote. This is a problem of the European Hockey Federation that they didn't push their members."
Earlier this week, Hockey India announced pulling out of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. However, the decision was taken without taking the government into confidence. Batra said no one is above the government, but also sided with the Indian hockey body.
"I don't know which source in the government has shared that they were not aware of the decision. It has been discussed at certain levels of the government, not the highest level," said Batra.
Batra said that participation in the CWG may have political obligations to fulfil but planning for the Olympics should be the priority.
"The Asian Games are just 32 days after the CWG. If Indians participate at the CWG and come back, their immediate destination would be China. Do you think they will be fit for the Asian Games? What is more important, qualifying for the Olympics or getting a medal at the CWG? Asian Games gold medal is more important as it assures direct qualification for the Olympics. So why not take the direct route? We have been failing to do so for many years. We should analyze sports in a scientific way rather than being emotional or passionate."
For the record, IOA had a fallout with CWG organisers after they went back to the decision of dropping shooting and archery from the Games programme citing the Covid situation. The IOA had pressurised them to reinstate those sports in pre-covid days. The CGF then allotted the Commonwealth archery and shooting championships to Chandigarh before the Birmingham CWG with the promise medals from these sports would be counted in the final tally.
The CWG is slated in Birmingham from July 28 next year.
