•My guest today is someone I’m proud to have been a friend of for a quarter of a century — Mr K.P.S. Gill. Always wonderful to have you as a friend, despite the kind of mess hockey is in right now and given how popular you are at the moment.

Popularity and unpopularity are, as the scriptures say: don’t worry about them as they are immaterial things. As far as hockey being in a mess is concerned . . .

•. . . the Jyotikumaran episode.

The Jyotikumaran episode. Initially, when you watch that, it appears very, very shocking and I said it . . .

•Very, very shocking.

But when you look at it dispassionately, you see a camera shot of Jyotikumaran receiving money. How much money is not mentioned. Whose money is not mentioned. A case is made out, that this was done to include a specific player in a team going to, I think, the Azlan Shah tournament. Now, the team till then hadn’t been selected and Jyotikumaran is not concerned with the selection for last almost one year.

•So he could have taken the money saying I will try my best. That could be the case?

The case, from what I’ve read, is that they went to him and said that they want to have a tournament which will outdo the Azlan Shah tournament. (They said) we are going to spend so much money, and according to Jyotikumaran’s statement, this was an advance (amount) to be used for making arrangements. . . . Secondly, trying to link that with selection is an entirely despicable act and I cannot condemn that act with more force at my command.

... contd.