Short of explanation, Viren doesn’t know why he’s been dropped

The patriarchal Indian Hockey Federation is conventionally immune to any scrutiny, let alone of the legal variety. But, Viren Rasquinha’s demand for an explanation to his shocking omission from the Asian Games squad

The patriarchal Indian Hockey Federation is conventionally immune to any scrutiny, let alone of the legal variety. But, Viren Rasquinha’s demand for an explanation to his shocking omission from the Asian Games squad, was nothing short of a verbal invoking of the Right To Information.

The Mumbai boy — a veteran of over hundred internationals on the astro-turf – was in an unforgiving mood at a desperately-summoned press conference on Monday, armed with posers for a selection committee which excluded him from the Doha-bound squad. “The selectors are all former Olympians, but I am sorry to say that I have lost all respect for them,’’ he said, asking his fitness tests be made public.

“Why am I out of the team if the coach had told me that I deserved to be in, on current form and fitness ?’’ asked the 26-year-old who has till date had a harmonious relationship with all concerned.

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“The government should take it up; it’s a national team, not someone’s personal team,’’ he added, recalling the events of the last few days when in a matter of 36 hours in Gurgaon, Rasquinha was dropped on fitness grounds.

The said five fitness tests had seen Rasquinha finish the 2.4 km run well under stipulated nine minutes in all but one, and in the top-three for the 40 metre sprints, lending intrigue to the selectors’ fitness-criterion. In one shot, the selectors had subtracted seven years from India’s experience at the games where anything short of a gold will compel India to battle it out in the qualifiers for Olympics, making Doha a very important assignment.

In what has been a curious yo-yo year, the Bandra boy was dropped for the third time — the earlier snubs coming during the Commonwealth Games and the Pakistan series. Happier times had seen him collect the Arjuna Award and even step in for Dilip Tirkey when the regular national skipper was unavailable. The not-so-happy ones saw him change his church in embarrassment, after India’s World Cup disaster.

“I’m used to ups and downs, but this has left me very disappointed since my sole focus was the Asiad and I’d been working very very hard for it,’’ he stressed, simultaneously quashing speculations of retirement.

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“I’m not asking for any favours, only what I deserve’’ he said, displaying the intent to fight it out till the end. “There has been systematic annihilation of the batch which won the 2001 Junior World Cup in Hobart. Gaganajit, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot, Bimal Lakra, have been dropped one by one,’’ he added. To his credit, Rasquinha has opted to stick his neck out and ask for answers.