NEW DELHI: Having emerged as the highest scorer at the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey tournament in Malaysia, comeback man Sandeep Singh lashed out at the previous hockey management for not utilizing his skills in Olympic qualifiers which resulted in the team's failure to book a berth for Beijing.

"If I could have played in the qualifying rounds for the Beijing Olympics, the result could have changed. India would have booked the Olympics berth," Sandeep said. "The management didn't realize my value. They didn't utilize my talent also," he told PTI.

The Indian hockey team recently failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time in 80 years in Santiago, Chile. Despite being slammed by the experts, former coach Joaquim Carvalho had dropped Sandeep claiming that he was injured.

The player's name was not even considered for the national pre-Olympic squad. "They didn't know how to utilize a player for the team. That's why the team failed to perform well. India is known for hockey all over the world. I really feel bad to see India missing the upcoming Beijing Games," he said.

Sandeep scored nine goals during India's silver medal winning run in the tournament, beating four teams on the trot, before going down narrowly to Argentina in the final.

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