Apparently, Indian hockey had not learnt anything from past mistakes as intrigue and dissension continued to plague the national team that, along with the officials of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), got involved in a match-fixing controversy that split the team ahead of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Following Balkrishen Singh's resignation, Cedric D'Souza took charge in 1994, just a week before the World Cup in Australia, where the team did well to finish fifth and raise visions of resurgence. Like his mentor Balkrishen, D'Souza too opted for "total hockey" with emphasis on a strong midfield and the tactics fetched good results.
India travelled to Barcelona in January 1996 for the Olympic qualifier that was held at the historic Polo Club, the scene of the inaugural World Cup in 1971. The team appeared to be primed for the competition that it eventually won defeating Holland (who went on to win the gold at Atlanta) in the final.
En route, India and Malaysia deliberately played a goalless draw that knocked out Canada while Malaysia qualified. Some of the seniors in the Indian team were very much in the know while the coach and a majority of other players learnt of the diabolical plan too late in the game.
A furious D'Souza, speaking at the post-match press conference, predicted a disastrous Olympics.
"The team is split and I don't see this side doing well in Atlanta. It is going to be a disaster," he thundered.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) investigated, but could not substantiate the match fixing charges though for those who witnessed the match, it was quite obvious.
Some of the senior players also did not see eye-to-eye with D'Souza who they branded as a theoretician and little else. Thus, a divided team arrived in Atlanta where they surprisingly put on a strong display, losing only one of their five league matches, while winning two, including against eventual silver medallists Spain to finish third in the group.
It meant that for the four consecutive Olympics, India ended up playing for 5-8 positions and eventually finished eighth after losing both their classification matches, 6-8 (tie-breaker) to South Korea and 3-4 to Great Britain.
The Atlanta Olympics saw curtain come down on Pargat Singh's otherwise glorious career while D'Souza resigned only to be reinstated in 2001 in another round of musical chairs.
Indian team: Pargat Singh Powar (captain), AB Subbaiah, Aloysius Edwards, Anil Aldrin, Dilip Tirkey, Mohammed Riaz, Ramandeep Singh Grewal, Baljeet Singh Saini, Rahul Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Sabu Varkey, Dhanraj Pillay, Sanjeev Kumar, Gavin Ferreira, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Harpreet Singh.
League - India lost to Argentina 0-1.
India drew with Germany 1-1 (Mukesh Kumar 1).
India beat USA 4-0 (Dhanraj Pillay 2; Ramandeep Singh 1; Sanjeev Kumar (69FG).
India drew with Pakistan 0-0.
India beat Spain 3-1 (Gavin Ferreira 2; Sabu Varkey 1).
5-8 Classification playoff: India lost to Korea 6-8 in Tie-Breaker* (3-3 F/T; Ramandeep Singh 1; Gavin Ferreira 1; Mukesh Kumar 1).
7-8 positions: India lost to Great Britain 3-4 (Baljit Singh Dhillon 1; Ramandeep Singh 1; Pargat Singh Powar 1).
*Penalty Stroke Competition vs Korea - Korea take 1st Penalty Stroke
(Korea: Yong-Bae Yong (Scored 1-0); Myung-Keun You (Scored 2-1); Jong-Ha Jeon (Scored 3-2); Seok-Kyo Shin (Scored 4-3); Shin-Heum Park (Scored 5-3).
India: Ramandeep Singh (Missed 0-1); Mohamed Riaz (Scored 1-2); Gavin Fereira (Scored 2-3); Baljit Singh Dhillon (Scored 3-4).
Positions - The Netherlands 1; Spain 2; Australia 3; Germany 4; South Korea 5; Pakistan 6; Great Britain 7; India 8; Argentina 9; South Africa 10; Malaysia 11; United States 12.
(Anand Philar can be contacted at anandphilar@gmail.com)
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