Hockey inactivity causes concern amongst players
View(s):The South Asian Games (SAG) are to be held in Assam, India from February 6 to 16 next year. To date hockey players are perturbed over the fact that no pool has been formed for the SAG. This was indicated to the Sunday Times by several former national hockey players.
The reason for this is the absence of the Hockey Federation as the sport is involved in a court case. Because of this the Sports Minister has appointed a Competent Authority to look into the affairs of the sport.
The fact is the sport is at a stand still. No competitions have been held to date by the Hockey Federation.
According to the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation calendar five main events should have be held this year. They are: Nationals (Senior Men and Women), Junior Nationals (Men and Under 20 Boys), Inter- League, Knock-out and the Hockey Sevens (Men and Women).
This year and in the previous years none of the mentioned competitions has taken place. This year the only national level hockey tournament to be staged was at the 41st National Sports Festival.
Other than that Sri Lanka lost the chance of taking part in two international events. They are the Under 18 Asian (Boys and Girls) Hockey Championships. Currently hockey has fallen into a fathomless pit.
Currently India is the number one hockey team in Asia (men and women). Even if Sri Lanka cannot find a place in the South Asian Games the Sri Lanka women’s team is assured of a silver medal.
This is the view of several hockey coaches. The chances are that since a hockey pool too has not been formed to date, the chances of silver in the sport remains hangs in the balance.
With the South Asian Games looming and hockey taking a back seat hockey fans are hopeful that a pool is formed immediately or else the team that will proceed to the SAG will only be spectators.
Matale which is the Cradle of Sri Lanka hockey has some clubs which has not staged any competitions. Only at school level hockey is active.
It has also been revealed that some clubs charge Rs. 5,000 for and even go to as much as Rs. 15,000 for a team to take part in a tournament as match fees.
This shows that since there is no Hockey Federation there is no control over the levying of fees for a competition.
-SP