Only Sardar would have found place in team: Balbir
19 Dec 2013 4:48 AM IST
Balbir spoke of his utter dejection at the game’s current state and the issues plaguing Indian hockey. ‘Sardar Singh is the only player of that standard. Not all of them. Had other players been as good as Sardar Singh, then they would have been somewhere at the top,’ Balbir said of the halfback, who was the only Indian to be named in the FIH’s world XI recently.
The octogenarian, who will turn 90 later this month, holds the world record for most number of goals by an individual in an Olympic final, an astonishing five that he scored in the 1952 summit clash against the Netherlands.
Revered as the greatest centre forward to have played the game after the iconic Dhyan Chand, Balbir said the current set of players don’t have the skills to match the ones who made India an eight-time Olympic gold-medallist.
‘If they had the skills, they would have won. They can be at the top again. Practice is the only key, not only schemes, not only money, the players need to develop individual skills, and practice hard,’ Balbir said.
The octogenarian, who will turn 90 later this month, holds the world record for most number of goals by an individual in an Olympic final, an astonishing five that he scored in the 1952 summit clash against the Netherlands.
Revered as the greatest centre forward to have played the game after the iconic Dhyan Chand, Balbir said the current set of players don’t have the skills to match the ones who made India an eight-time Olympic gold-medallist.
‘If they had the skills, they would have won. They can be at the top again. Practice is the only key, not only schemes, not only money, the players need to develop individual skills, and practice hard,’ Balbir said.
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