Kenya's lost glory in hockey
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E-mail Xinhua, August 9, 2012
NAIROBI, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-four years ago at around this time, Kenya was one of the countries that lined up with the rest of the world to vie for Olympic honours in hockey during the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
And that was the last time the country sent a hockey team to the Games. The East African nation has participated at the Olympic Games in hockey in a total of 7 times.
In 1956, Kenya was 10th overall with the subsequent Olympic participation being; 1960 (7th overall), 1964 (6th), 1968 (8th), 1972 (13th), 1984 (9th) and 1988 where the country was ranked 12th overall.
It goes without saying that gone are the days when Kenya's national hockey teams used to hold the one-time world hockey champions, Pakistan to barren draws.
Those were the days when the teams could put up a spirited struggle against great hockey playing nations such as Holland and India. Those were the good old days.
In the same vein, the spirited efforts of promoting hockey in Kenya are long gone given that the culture of a requirement that all students joining secondary school must have a hockey stick is now history.
It is now 25 years since a Kenyan team was crowned the African hockey champions after clinching the gold medal in the Fourth All Africa Games hosted in Nairobi in 1987.
With the gold medal, the team earned itself the chance to represent the continent in Olympic Games, which were held in Seoul in South Korea.
The team, then comprising celebrities such as Paul Omany standing tall between the posts, defenders Lucas Alubakha, the penalty corner specialist who used to combine well with fellow defenders Julius Akumu, Parminder Saini 'Kake', Eliud Okoth, Roy Odhier, Harvinder Kular, Charles Oguk and London-based Barjinder David.
The forward line consisted of veterans like captain Peter Akatsa, Chris Otambo, Sam Ngoyo, Sam Muange, brothers Simi and Amit Goyal, Samson Oriso, Interjeet Matharu and Jaswinder Sagoo.
Since then not much has been heard in hockey circles at international level. One remembers with nostalgia when the granaries of Kenyan hockey stars, Kisumu Boys High School and Cardinal Otunga School used to meet.
This was in the mid and late eighties. Those were the days when international standards of hockey could be produced. The bulk of Kenya's hockey stars were products of these schools. So where did the rain start to beat Kenyan hockey.
"The decline of hockey in Kenya can be attributed to a disorganize Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) administration then whose numerous wrangles bogged down the game," hockey coach and international umpire Marie Aran told Xinhua in Nairobi on Thursday.
"The then chairman, Hardev Singh monopolized things at KHU so much that nothing could happen there without his authority, even the mundane of issues," Aran added.
This monopoly was so much that when he went on leave, or even a short visit abroad, the national leagues (both men and women) took a break pending his return.
The monopoly went further. He was the sole signatory to the Union's accounts; he directly controlled all the Union's finances, from petty cash to development funds. Actually, the Union's account was in his name.
He personally controlled all the incoming and outgoing correspondences to the Union - both official and personal. So was the email of which he was the sole custodian of the password.
As the chairman, the KHU constitution gave Hardev the power to preside over the elections of the Union. So, the same man who had a big interest in the election, presided over it.
"Unless Hardev went, there was nothing that would ever have moved at KHU. There were no new ideas that he brought to the sport. He was ready to fight and keep away all people with new ideas," Aran said.
Well, he was shown the door in 2005 and his place taken over by former Kenyan international who is also the Vice-Chairman of the African Hockey Union, Resham Bains.
"Hockey is improving and I am sure the best of the sport is yet to come. A lot has unfolded before our eyes in the past few years, most of which were unimaginable a few years ago," Bains told Xinhua when asked whether Kenya has the capacity to go back to where the country was in the 1980s.
"Unnecessary wrangling that neither helped the players nor the sport took centre stage and in that confusion, participation in major tournaments, both competitive and friendlies were forgotten."
Bains said the recent resurfacing of the country's national hockey stadium, City Park with an Astroturf surface holds the key to Kenya's future in hockey. Enditem
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