DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
JAMMU, Aug 29
Today a Press Conference was organized by Sikh Progressive Front under the chairmanship of its President S Balvinder Singh where strong exception was conveyed to the Hockey lovers regarding the pitiable condition of the Hockey being represented by Hockey J&K, who were holding its affairs for the last more than twenty five years.
Despite being declared defunct body by the sports council of JKUT they are also debarred to use K.K Hakku Hockey Astroturf Stadium for their routine activities, because of their dismal performance in the previously held National level Hockey tournament and because of the mass resignation of most of their office bearers, they are still managing it privately without the concurrence of Sports Council of JKUT selecting the team at their own which resulted in the most humiliating defeats in both the categories of Men & Women in the recently held national Tournament at Jhansi under the ages of Hockey India. The detail of their dismayed performance quite visible and self explanatory:
Recently in the sub junior Men and Women North Zone Hockey Championship held at Jhansi from 15 July to 22 July 2024, Hockey J&K failed to ds=send his women team and in Men category Delhi defeated Hockey J&K 6-1, UP defeated HJKK 18-0 & Punjab drubbed HJK by margin of 15-0 and thus conceded 39 goals and could manage to score only 1 goal in three matches.
Recently sub Junior Women hockey team from JKUT participated in Hockey India Junior Women North Zone Championship 2024 held from 1 August to 8th Aug. in which Hockey J&K lost to Delhi With the margin of 39-0, HUT ( Hockey Uttrakhand) 25-0 and lost to Haryana with the margin of 30-0 . in all the three matches conceded 94 goals and Hockey JK could’nt score a single goal.
In the 2nd Hockey India Men Category of the same Championship held at Jhansi CHD defeated Hockey J&K 13-1, HUT defeated HJK 11-0 & Punjab defeated HJK by margin of 21-0 , thus conceded 45 goals & scored a solitary goal in the tournament. this is the result of partial and corrupt practices adopted by Hockey J&K in managing the Hockey affairs and especially in partial selection of players.
Members of SPF along with number of other former National and International players welcomed the bold decision of Sports Council for declaring Hockey J&K a defunct body on the basis of its performance and corrupt practice adopted by them for the last so many years especially in the time of selection process. All present over in the PC stated that Hockey J&K is using all means to deceive the budding players by indulging in nefarious actions.
All are surprised how the body declared as defunt by Sports Council initiates selection process for the Junior Men Inter Zone Championship going to be held at Jallundhar Punjab from 9 Seop to 19 Sep 2024, the selection for which has already been initiated by Sports Council and is still under process under the supervision of Sports Council expert Committee, but three is a huge confusion which team would be treated as genuine and which players shall get participation certificate this is the main query which parents of each player is seeking from the authorities.
So all present in the PC appealed Hockey India to intervene in the matter and take immediate action to avoid exploitations of the Hockey players resulting in utter chaos. All present also demands that for the betterment and promotion of hockey in JKUT Hockey India should declare adhoch body by involving former national and International players from J&K in consultation with J&K sports council. Other member of Sikh Progressive Front and former National Players who were present in the Press Conference are S Manjit Singh,S Janak Singh, S Rajinder Singh Sudan, S Ravinder Singh, S Jaswinder Singh Kuku, S MS Reen International Umpire, S P P Singh, S T.P Singh etc
