Goalless Subbaiah retires in disgust

NEW DELHI, April 30: Shocked by the manner of his exclusion from the World Cup hockey team, the experienced goal-keeper Anjaparavanda Boppai...

NEW DELHI, April 30: Shocked by the manner of his exclusion from the World Cup hockey team, the experienced goal-keeper Anjaparavanda Boppaiah Subbaiah announced his retirement from the game today.

“This is not the way to do it. It is so humiliating. Till today morning I had no inkling that they did not want me in the side. The honourable thing for them would have been to inform me last evening,” a dejected Subbaiah told The Indian Express.

The team trials were over yesterday evening, and the team composition was already decided upon, but Subbaiah was not informed by the selectors or the coaches about his omission. In fact, he was asked to pad up today morning during the morning session and was kept waiting at the sidelines while the other contenders — Jude Menezes and Jagdish Ponnappa — had a hectic work-out. “Do you think I deserve this? I was informed two hours after the team announcement about it. If they would have told me earlier, I would have been in a different frame of mind,”Subbaiah added.

Story continues below this ad

Subbaiah said that all the talk about “consistency” was hogwash. “I was declared the best player in the match against Pakistan in Jalandhar, and the best goal-keeper in the Chennai match.

“And, if they have dropped me on the basis of fitness, I have never been fitter in my life. I had recovered fully from my shoulder injury before the Pakistan tour, and have worked really hard on my fitness. Such decisions give you the feeling that you are being targeted for no reason at all,” he said.

Subbaiah, who made his international debut a decade back, said that he was hoping to contribute to India’s campaign in Utrecht, but was now devastated. He however, said that he was willing to change his mind on retirement, if “the country needs my services”.