Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Apr 17: The hockey team of Andaman and Nicobar has become a talk of the nation after it suffered 26-0 and 30-0 defeat by Bihar and Madhya Pradesh respectively, in Hockey India’s 7th Junior National Hockey Championship (Men).
The news has however left people of Andaman and Nicobar Islands fuming and disappointed.
This is not the first time when Andaman’s hockey team performed so badly in National level, earlier too in many occasions, Andaman team performed hopelessly and was crushed by teams of other states.
The Incharge of Aam Admy Party in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Mr. Sanjay Meshak is first to raise voice against such poor performance of Andaman’s team in National Level.
“There must be an inquiry to find out all possible reason behind such shameful performance. There are serious questions over the credibility of Andaman’s hockey association and the Olympic Association, which is certainly a reason behind such poor performance,” said Mr. Sanjay Meshak.
He alleged that Andaman’s Hockey Association has asked players to spend money from their pocket for participating in the national level tournament, which is again a serious issue.
“In Andaman neither we have artificial turf for practice not we have Composite hockey sticks. Our players had to beg hockey sticks from other team to play matches, I was told,” alleged Mr. Meshak.
There are others who are now raising objections on the selection process of this Hockey team of Andaman.
“There are always doubt on selection process and involvement of politics in sports in Andaman. In past one person was arrested by police for sending a fake team from other state in name of Andaman’s team,” questioned Mohammed Rafique, a social worker of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
However, office bearers of Andaman Hockey Association passed the blame on poor infrastructure of Sports in Andaman.
“There are no facilities in Andaman and Nicobar Islands like ground, coach but still Andaman team is showing courage to reach to national level and participate. This must be appreciated. There is no support from Administration. Negative attitude towards sports is the main reason behind such defeat,” said Dr. Jijith Rekh, observer of the Andaman and Nicobar Hockey Association, from Andaman’s Olympic Association.
