{image-indian hockey_12032008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Mumbai, Mar 12: The Indian hockey team that failed to qualify for the Olympics returned from Chile here late last night.

After their arrival, hockey coach Joaquim Carvalho told reporters that there was nothing wrong in the preparation for the tournament. "It is just that we did not play up to our potential and we lost the match," he said. Carvalho also accused the referees of not being up to the mark and booked the players unnecessarily without reasoning.

The defeat prompted Carvalho to resign along with his support staff comprising of Mohindar Pal Singh and Ramesh Parmeshwaran. Earlier, Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) chief KPS Gill had rejected the demand for his resignation saying: "I will respond to these things at a later stage. We do not have an instant coffee machine to get results instantly. It takes time to regain your position. I would wait for the team to return before deciding the future course of action because that will give a clear idea of what went wrong."

Indian hockey plunged to a new low after the team failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in last 80 years, following the defeat against Britain in the final of the qualifying tournament in Santiago, Chile. India, an eight time gold medalists, needed to win the six-team competition to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. They however, lost to Britain 0-2 on Sunday.

ANI