Amidst shock and anguish over India's failure to qualify for Olympic hockey for the first time in 80 years, two icons from the entertainment and cricket fields, on Tuesday, expressed optimism that the team would bounce back in the near future.
- 'Hockey must start from scratch'
While filmstar Shah Rukh Khan urged critics not to indulge in a blame game, former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly was optimistic that the nation would regain its glory in hockey.
Shah Rukh, whose role as a women's hockey coach braving all odds to guide his team to victory in 'Chak De! India' made it a sort of a national war cry in sports, was bombarded with questions on India's debacle in the Olympic qualifiers in Santiago, Chile.
"You did a film on Indian hockey. Will you do anything for the game?" a scribe asked the matinee idol during a media interaction after the logo, mascot, anthem and apparel of his Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders were launched.
"(It has caused) a huge amount of sadness. But we should quickly get over the blame game. We'll win some, lose some. We should put it behind us," Khan said.
Referring to Australia's loss to India in the final of the recently concluded triangular cricket series, he said "Australia is not finished after this loss."
