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Dubai: "It is unfortunate that we did not qualify for the Olympics but it is not surprising. We have not been doing well for the last 20 years and so it has finally happened," former Indian captain and Olympian Marcellus Gomes told Gulf News from Mumbai.
"There is no point in blaming the India coach Joaquim Carvalho for the defeat. If Indian hockey has to do well, the whole system has to be revamped.
"Like in the past it is no longer easy to qualify for the Olympics. As per the new system only one team from one qualifying tournament can make it. A team like Argentina has not qualified and Germany is also yet to qualify," said Gomes, who had expressed his fears at the dwindling number of hockey players in India.
"We have to accept the reality that we have not been a strong hockey team for the last 20 years and will now have to work hard towards making the team strong."
Dhanraj Pillay, the former Indian captain, was distraught at the failure.
Poor planning
"India hockey had been suffering from poor planning and bad selection. The Indian team selection procedure should be clean and those who are really good should only be in the India team," said Pillay, who was in Dubai last week to play in the Lusitanians Hockey tournament.
"Politics had played a big role in the exit of many good players like Viren Rasquinha, Gagan Ajit Singh and Deepak Thakur. They all could have played more hockey for the country.
"We were a power when we used to play skilful hockey but now we are trying to play a European style of hockey. We need to take their good points like penalty corners, when to control the ball etc. We should learn from them but we need not 100 per cent adopt their strategy of hockey."
Former captain Viren Rasquinha wants India to look to the future. He feels lack of infrastructure has been a factor. "There is unbelievable raw talent at junior level but we need to groom them," he said.
"Infrastructure is a problem. We must get children to play on astroturf if we have to improve our standard. We should also appoint good coaches to groom them young. It is important that they do not learn bad techniques when you are young."
We have to accept the reality that we have not been strong for the last 20 years and will now have to work hard to making the team strong.
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