Thaindian News

New Delhi, Mar 8 (IANS) A day after former India captain Pargat Singh questioned the selection of the national hockey team, another Olympian Ashok Kumar concurred with him saying players like Sandeep Singh and Prabhjot Singh do not deserve to be in the side.
Kumar, son of legendary Dhyan Chand, claimed that there was no transparency in selection.

”A lot of the blame should be attributed to the recent power struggle within Hockey India which resulted in the team’s poor performance here,” Kumar said on the sidelines of the Hockey World Cup here Monday.

”The preparation for the World Cup was not on the right lines and the selection process should have been transparent and there should have been a proper yardstick to judge the players’ form before a major tournament of this stature.”

Kumar, while pointing out the mistakes of drag-flick expert Sandeep, said: “Sandeep was certainly doing good with his drag-flicks and a 50 per cent conversion rate was always acceptable. But there are other aspects of the game as well. There are reverses, tackling, retreat and other such things where you have to be good, but unfortunately Sandeep showed up poorly in these departments. As his performance went down, he also began to lose his confidence and that affected his drag-flicking.”

Kumar also said when he was the manager of the team, he tried to help Sandeep but the player never took his suggestions seriously.

Kumar also said ace forward Prabhjot has slowed down and that is affecting his game.

”Prabhjot is like former India striker Mukesh Kumar, who could be seen all over the turf, but of late he has lost his speed and is unable to keep pace with others,” he said.