Sad day for Indian Hockey

[Desi Cartman]

NEW DELHI-Indian Hockey Federation secretary K Jothikumaran’s luck has finally run out. For years, the grapevine had buzzed with talk of shady deals involving him. Now, the man who held the second most powerful post in Indian hockey for 14 years has been exposed by a news channel’s sting operation showing him taking money to get a player selected for the Azlan Shah Cup to be held at Kuala Lumpur in May. This is a fresh blow to the ‘national game’ that’s already struggling to stay alive in the country. Jothikumaran resigned late on Monday night after the damning evidence was aired on television. Not that he had much choice. IHF chief K P S Gill had categorically stated after the sting that Jothikumaran would be sacked. “We will remove him. We are now looking to appoint someone as the acting secretary tomorrow itself. Somebody who can stoop to such a level and disgrace the game need not continue,” Gill told TOI after the channel showed the Chennai-based secretary demanding Rs 5 lakh for ensuring the selection of a player in the national team. The team for the Azlan Shah Cup was to be picked on Tuesday, Gill said. According to the sting transcript, Jothikumaran received cash payment of Rs 2 lakh in a Delhi hotel on April 10 and 11 and was promised that the rest would be delivered to his man in the capital. ‘‘A few days after receiving the money, Jothikumaran told us the player’s name had been included in the list of probables for Azlan Shah Cup to be sent to the ministry this week,’’ the transcript said. ”Jothikumaran assured us that as far he was concerned the player was in, and it was now just a matter of formality. The special investigation team did not know this player at all. Just to make the entire investigation look real, they used the name of this player as he was part of the recently held camp at Bangalore and was not included in the team for the ongoing tour of Australia,’’ the transcript added. Meanwhile, IHF president KPS gill was non-committal when asked whether IHF would start any probe against the secretary. ‘‘They have shown him taking money. What can I say to that? Probes, inquiries are different things. We have to look into the seriousness of the allegations,’’ he said. The channel also said when its investigative team approached Jothikumaran as a business house that wanted to organize an international tournament, ‘‘Jothikumaran asked for Rs 5 lakh in the name of seed money to facilitate the event’’. Out of this he demanded Rs 3 lakh in cash and the rest in the name of a front company working for him in Delhi,’’ the channel said. The latest development has come as a fresh blow for a game that’s already struggling to stay alive in the country. Reacting to the expose, former India captain Pargat Singh said it was a shocking revelation. ‘‘We have been hearing about it for a long time. This is a shocking thing to have happened. He should be immediately sacked and a criminal case should be lodged against him,’’ he told TOI. Meanwhile, Jothikumaran told an agency that “I was genuinely under the impression that a proposal for conducting a big tournament on the lines of Azlan Shah tournament was being debated with me by the reporters of the news channel. At no point of time did I raise anything about selection.

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[jf1gp_1]

let BCCI run IHF.

[Desi Cartman]

let BCCI run IHF.

or Lalu .. at least he will make it profitable :giggle: On a serious note , things like these will kill Hockey in India .. just sad

[beetle]

This is good.....it will help clean up the muck! He is gone and finally sportsminister Gill has asked KPS Gill to leave!

[veer]

yup.. thats true.. NEW DELHI: The IHF office-bearers may have weathered the storm of the Indian hockey team’s inability to qualify for the Olympics but the latest controversy of its secretary taking bribe in front of the camera looks set to unleash serious repercussions. Sports Minister MS Gill on Tuesday stated that IHF president KPS Gill should resign since “trust and faith in fair selection is shaken”. Murmurs from within the ministry indicate that there is talk of taking a strong stance with the backing of the Indian Olympic Association. Given the open war between former sports minister Mani Shanker Aiyar and the IOA, the present incumbent is wary of ruffling any feathers. However, in this particular case the IOA is also considering acting on what has after all become a national embarrassment. The IOA has called for a special executive committee meeting on the issue which will take place on April 28. Speculation abounds that there is serious talk of imposing strict sanctions on the IHF with both he ministry and the IOA acting in collusion. IOA president Suresh Kalmadi was expected to meet MS Gill on Tuesday to chart out a common course of action to bring the errant IHF to book. Kalmadi’s statement that he “strongly condemns the alleged incident” is very much in sync with the sports minister. IHF secretary K Jothikumaran being nabbed for taking a bribe is just the tip of financial irregularities that persist in the body according to former vice president Narendra Batra who quit the federation after leveling corruption charges against its office bearers. “It would be no exaggeration to say that hundreds of players have suffered on account of these kinds of malpractices. I have raised these issues for the last five years but no one pad any heed. Even the travel bills and phone bill figures of the office bearers are scandalous,” said Batra. While the IHF has signed lucrative deals with ESPN for PHL and Sahara as team sponsor, the figures were never made public and questions abound on just how these funds have been used. IHF supremo Gill and Jothikumaran have of late fallen out but both have been hand in glove in handling the body’s funds in the past. --- this is awful :((

[Cricketics]

it might be blessing in disguise also. however i am not sure if there was any disguise. WE NEED TO START IT ALL OVER AGAIN..

[suraj]

really really sad

[Desi Cartman]

right now its like PCB

[Cricketics]

right now its like PCB

Infact much more worse