Belgium wins the Tokyo men’s hockey semifinal defeating India-5-2: Alleged Partisan attitude of referees comes to fore

GG News Bureau
Tokyo/New Delhi,3 rd Aug. Once again, the white referees allegedly came to the rescue of the Belgium team in the semifinal of the Men Hockey at Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday.
The racism is self-evident from the decisions taken on the field alleged one fan who was glued to his TV set hoping India will end its dry run of Gold medal in Olympics from a long time.
India was defending well with the scores at 2-2 level in Q3 when suddenly the referees intervened to rescue Belgium out of trouble which meant more penalty corners tilting the balance in favour of Belgium 5-2 shattering all hopes of a Gold medal in Olympics.
Indian team took the lead after going down early against Belgium. Harmanpreet converted a penalty corner and Mandeep scored from open play in the first quarter. In the second, Alexander Hendrickx scored from the penalty corner to make it 2-2 as India.
The Indian hockey team fought bravely but was helpless in front of the white referees who began giving the decisions against it after they saw the scores were level. it seemed as if India wa splaying gaainst 15 Belgium players said one fan after the end of the match. The incident of wrong decision increased after second half when the referees stared giving fouls that were never committed which led to demoralizing the team on number of occasions, alleged the Hockey fans who were watching the match glued to their TV set.
The Pushes and the physical play of the Belgian team was ignored while a penalty was given outside D against India while the Belgian players were let off their crimes on number of occasions.
Even the video referee chipped in with his partisan decision by awarding penalty stroke when it was not there. This all meant that all the chances of recovering for Indian team were shattered resulting in final Goal by the Belgian team right at the dying second of the game.
Harjinder Singh a fan and a district level Hockey player said that the dominance of the Asian team is not acceptable to the western world, and it was due to this reason the artistic Hockey was replaced by more physical Hockey. The introduction of Astro Turf and changes in the rules meant that the Asian countries had no chance whatsoever to recover.
The nexus of white skinned officials is so strong that the Asian countries are not in position of raising the issue. The Corruption in Hockey federation in India is also one of the reasons that the matter is not taken up with all seriousness said another Hockey player without being named.
Well, some Hockey lovers blame the Hockey federation which works as stooge of the white dominated International Hockey federation and not India. The Indian Hockey federation has failed to create structures that can compete this level of psychological pressure created by the white nations alleged the fans.
The Indian Hockey federation which never tries to impart training and send more referees to the international pool to judge the matches is also one reason that India does not have the say in forming rules for the game thus resulting in Asian team going down further. The people running the Hockey federation are reluctant to leave their posts and continue to destroy the structures in the country as they are given sops and benefits to travel to Europe in pretext of watching Hockey at the club levels, alleged players of the game at district levels in India.
The former players were of the view that the federation officials should resign for this debacle and not pursuing the matters that affect the country international level and should work towards making a fresh start by creating nursery of tough, physical, and sturdy players who can counter the big and strong teams from western countries and beat them in their own game. The Western nation since the dominance of Asian country has been working to change the rules so that the Hockey dies in the Asian countries and they have succeeded in it so far. However, the Asian countries like India now Should respond strongly by putting in it a concerted efforts to win back the old glory.
The international structure of Hockey is presently tilted in favour of the western countries who are physically stronger and there is no place for skill and artistic hockey which has led to crushing the spirits of millions of young players who come from rural background in countries like India. The defeat in Hockey has a bandwagon effect on the other games in Olympics and helps in lifting the moral of other team member competing in Olympics. The sports lawyers and other lovers of Hockey need to take up the issue in international court of justice as it is against the principle of the Olympics of equitable opportunities for all. Similar partisan attitude in other games in major tournaments should be probed and whenever there is a white team playing against Asian countries set of referees should not be of same colour as it leads to racism alleged fans of Indian Hockey. The onus is on Asian countries now to take up the matter and if not done India should walk out of Hockey or make its own set of rules that are conducive to Asian players.