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| Mukesh: Hockey dying at school, college level | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | July 29
Hockey, which earned a name for the country in the pre-independence era making a hat trick of gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Germany, today dying a slow death as India’s national game fast losing ground at school and college level.
Those afford to send their wards to the stadiums prefer other games over hockey thereby leaving it to those from lower middle class section of the society to play with stick.
This was stated by an international player, Mukesh Kumar, a gold medalist in the Ist School Asian Games in 1994 in an interaction with SAN. Mukesh was in Jammu in connection with 17th CRPF Inter-Sector Hockey Tournament held at K K Hakhu Stadium, here.
Representing the Southern Sector, Mukesh joined the CRPF in 1997 and represented the country in test series with Pakistan in 1999. He was also part of the Indian team that won silver medal in Al Akbar International Hockey Tournament held at Cairo in Egypt.
Upset with the present state of hockey in the country, Mukesh said, “I feel, once most loved game of hockey is fast losing its ground at school and college level, which is not a good sign.”
Expressing his concern over people’s preference to individual events, Mukesh, who belongs to Haryana, said, “those who can afford to send their child to the stadium have started avoiding joining the team events, especially hockey, the reason being the game has earned a bad name because of its poor management.”
From an average family himself, Mukesh was of the opinion that people prefer education over sports. “Better education has become a preference for the parents, who don’t want to take the risk of pushing their ward to sports, where favoritisms still exist,” said Mukesh.
Mukesh remained in the Indian team for six years between 1996 to 2002. During his stay in the team, he enjoyed the privilege of playing with stars like Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar. |
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