Pargat Singh Calls it a Day
30 January, 1997
NEW DELHI Jan. 29. - India captain Pargat Singh today announced his retirement from international hockey. He said that this time it would be for good, unlike on the last occasion, in 1992.
Circumstances had forced Pargat to quit then, rather prematurely, following allegations against him and a few others after the disaster at the Barcelona Olympics.
Today, as he looked back at his career, at a well-attended press conference, Pargat said that he had no regrets, though there was a touch of sadness in not being able to lend the side to a major International title.
"I had always aimed for the Olympics or World Cup title. That did not come about", said the man who led the country since 1989 in a total of 168 matches, a record. He played for India in 313 matches, another record, having started in the senior side even before playing for the India junior team.
Pargat kept emphasising the need to build up hockey at the junior and sub-junior levels, the need to improve the basic infrastructure, the necessity to have "mentally balanced players" who would give hundred per cent every match and the importance of Improving in the penalty corner department. He also mooted the idea of having foreign expertise in particular departments of the game.
He was reluctant to get into any discussion on the coaches under whom he had played, though Pargat did point out that both Balkrishan Singh and Cedric D' Souza, coaches at the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics respectively, were not prepared to find fault with him in front of him.
Pargat rated Pakistani Shahbaz Ahmed as the best forward he had played against, though "he never dodged me", and placed Dutchman Tiez Kruise, a penalty-corner specialist and an excellent defender, as the most respected player among his contemporaries.
The man who fell three short of a century of goals in his international career could not rate any match or tournament as his best or worst. He, however, recalled the 1985 Champions Trophy match against Germany for special mention.
Bated as the best full back since Surjit Singh — perhaps even a shade better — Pargat had an event¬ful career since making his debut in the ten-nation tournament in Hong Kong in 1983. He has had his brush with officialdom, once walking out of a National camp in Bangalore, then leading a protest against the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), seeking a better deal for the players.
Apart from his rock-steady defense — his interceptions and clearances inside the circle often bordered on arrogance — Pargat showed his brilliant dribbling capability in occasional surges into the rival area. Though such spurts often fetched the team a goal or a penalty corner, coaches and innumerable critics found fault with such tactics adopted by him.
Though never considered a penalty-corner expert, Pargat had a fair amount of success in that department too, especially with his scoops. He admitted that he could have developed into a much better penalty corner hitter had he been groomed at an early age. "I have the right qualities".
Pargat played in three Olympic Games — in 1988, 1992 and 1996, two World Cups, in 1986 and 1990 and two Asian Games, in 1986 and 1990. He might well have added one each to that tally but for the retirement or self-imposed exile after the Barcelona Olympics.
He said that it was at the instance of the IHF President Mr. K. P. S. Gill that he decided to come back in 1995. "I took it as a challenge: I wanted to show that I was still the best".
Now at 32, Pargat feels there are other things to do in life. His future plans include bringing out a hockey magazine, apart from devoting considerable time to the improvement of sub-junior and junior hockey. He will continue to play for Punjab Police as well.
