NEW DELHI, 31 August 2004 — India’s star field hockey player Dhanraj Pillay yesterday expressed bitterness that his last Olympics ended with him warming the benches.
“My farewell match in the Olympics ended on a bitter note, thanks to the team management which was already issuing press statements about my retirement,” said Pillay, who played in his fourth Olympics.
“As far as these Olympics are concerned, it is all over for me and I feel extremely sad that it had to end in this manner,” Pillay wrote in a column in the Hindustan Times.
“Anyone who has some knowledge of the game would realize the difference I make when I take the field. Even then I had a tough time getting into the first eleven for reasons best known to the team management,” he said.
“To add to this humiliation, I was made to sit out in my last game (against South Korea),” said Pillay, as eight-time gold medalists India finished a poor seventh.
India failed to make the semifinals and then lost to arch rivals Pakistan in a match for minor placings before beating Asian Games champions South Korea 5-2 in their last outing.
Pillay, 35, said he had not yet made a decision on retirement.
“I will only decide on my next course of action after discussing it with my family when I return to India,” said the most famous name in contemporary Indian hockey.
Pillay has starred in many wins but has failed to lift the team at the Olympics, where India have failed to make the semifinals since winning the gold at Moscow in 1980.
