Former India coach favours Chak de India sequel

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Bhopal, (UNI): Former Indian hockey coach Mir Ranjan Negi, who directed the technical aspect of the Aditya Chopra film Chak de India, said that he would definitely like to go for the movie's sequel but would not foray into politics, which was a ''hard nut'' to crack.

''I want to revive hockey at grassroots level so that every young hand wields a stick and the sport reaches every nook and cranny of the country. I have set up a foundation in the memory of my 19-year-old son Abhiranjan. It will hunt and polish talent in the interior in a bid to counter the sport's deteriorating stature,'' he told UNI here.

Stressing that he would toil for the uplift of hockey until it is adopted on a wide scale and ''played in every street,'' Negi added that he wished that the national sport attained its past glory.

''I am penning a book 'From Gloom to Glory' that will reveal some interesting and astonishing facts about the country's hockey scenario,'' he said, but refused to disclose excerpts saying that he waited 16 years and others should wait for 16 days for the book to come onto the shelves.

Parents from across the country were calling up requesting him to coach their daughters following the release of the Shahrukh Khan-starrer Chak de India. ''This is a pleasant surprise as the mist is clearing and people are getting attracted towards hockey again,'' Negi felt.

On the deteriorating condition of hockey in Bhopal, which is considered to be the 'Nursery of Hockey', he said that every sport undergoes ups and downs.