When Rajinder Singh Was ‘Sacked’ Barely 21 Days Before 2004 Athens Olympics
Over decades, the Indian men’s hockey journey has been a highly eventual one, replete with myriad memorable moments, forgettable ones as well not to forget the ‘controversial quotient’ along the way. Rewind to July 2024 – just three weeks (21 days to be precise) before the 2004 Athens Olympics, the then Indian men’s hockey team chief coach Rajinder Singh Senior was ‘sacked’ ahead of the marquee event and was replaced by ‘little known’ German Gerhard Rach in the ‘hot seat’. All along it was perceived that Rajinder Singh Senior was ‘sacked’ but the ‘reality’ was something else. The former Indian deep defender, who wore the national jersey with pride, and subsequently guided the national team to its maiden Junior World Cup triumph at Hobart in 2001 as well as the maiden Asia Cup victory in 2003 at New Delhi, had actually stepped aside at his own volition – he was never asked to step down or sacked as it was made out to be in public domain.
Rajinder, who was in charge of the national team for a 21-day fitness-cum-training camp in Arizona, US, before arriving in Dusseldorf, Germany, where the national side was gearing up for the Olympics as well as featuring in the Four Nation Tournament (India had rubbed shoulders with hosts Germany, Great Britain, and France) – for this tourney, Gerhard Rach was installed as the chief coach alongside two assistant coaches – Oliver Kruize and Jagbir Singh.
“The Dusseldorf tournament was a practice tournament to pick the 16-member squad for the 2004 Athens Olympics. I wanted fullback Kanwalpreet Singh and midfielder Bimal Lakra in the Athens Olympics-bound squad, but both these players were not picked. Defender Harpal Singh and forward Adam Sinclair were preferred over Kanwalpreet and Bimal. I obviously had differences of opinion with the then IHF secretary K Jyotikumaran,” Rajinder opens up in an exclusive chat with Hockey Passion.
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The former Indian penalty corner exponent revealed how he ran into a collision course with the then IHF secretary. “He (Jyotikumaran) came to my hotel room during the Dusseldorf tournament and showed a team list asking me to sign the list. Since I refused to sign his team list, he did not take it kindly and said I’m not the final authority and that the selectors had approved his team list. I categorically told him that this is not my final team list as the names of Kanwalpreet Singh and Bimal Lakra were missing in the team list shared by Jyotikumaran. I told him my list has the best team for the Olympics,” the 66-year-old former penalty corner exponent recounts.
Rajinder threw light on how the then IHF secretary did everything possible to put him in bad light in front of the then IHF President KPS Gill. “Gill sahab met me one evening at Dusseldorf and asked me why have I abused the IHF secretary – obviously, this was wrongly conveyed to our President. I told Gill sahab that I only refused to sign the team list and never abused the secretary. I met Gill sahab met him again the next morning and tried convincing me that this team (team list shared by Jyotikumaran) is the best available Indian team. He asked me to go to Athens as coach but I told him I can’t go to Athens if these two players – Kanwalpreet and Bimal are not picked in the Olympics squad. Gill sahab asked me to rethink about decision not go to Athens but I stood my ground,” he quips Rajinder who enjoyed a good working relationship with the then IHF President.
“I always felt respected and valued by Gill sahab, but there were people around him who are putting things in his head. I remember telling Gill sahab saying ‘please don’t take me to Athens but please pick Bimal and Kanwalpreet in the side as they deserve to be in the side. I always felt that Adam Sinclair, who was picked for the Olympics did not deserve a place in the side. There was nothing personal against any player as I always believed in picking players on merit irrespective of which region a player belongs to,” he shares his perspective.
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Rajinder, who was the top goal-scorer at the 1982 Bombay World Cup, also shares an anecdote about he kept aside the family bereavement news of Kanwalpreet Singh. “I came to know that Kanwalpreet’s father had expired when we landed in Dusseldorf. I was not sure if he would be allowed to go home and since he was a young, promising player, I wanted him to focus on his game and did not tell him about his father’s demise.”
For the record, the Indian men finished seventh at the 2004 Athens Olympics under the captaincy of Dilip Tirkey (current Hockey India President).
