• Stars must perform or perish

Indian Hockey Fiasco

The plight of the national sport is worsening due to inefficient management and poor planning, writes Prabhjot Singh

The Doha debacle has stunned hockey Olympians and other former international players to such an extent that a substantial section of them may distance itself from the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), the body that controls the game in the country.

"We should not take up the responsibility of training national teams or be part of the national selection committees," is their refrain.

"This distancing," they feel, "should continue till the present set of office-bearers quit and a new sport-friendly body takes over."

It remains to be seen whether this decision, if taken, will do any good to the Indian hockey team, which is on brink of elimination from major events conducted under the direct control of Federation Internationale de Hockey (FIH).

Doha has been the greatest shock for lovers of the game ever since India failed to qualify for the Olympic Games final in Mexico (1968). Since then shocks have come much more frequently than successes. In 1976, India failed for the first time to qualify for the Olympic semifinals at Montreal.

It was followed by a debacle in Lahore where a hastily assembled team led by defender Aslam Sher Khan was defeated by Malaysia in an invitation tournament. That was perhaps India’s first loss to Malaysia. Since then, Indian hockey has witnessed many upheavals, including its shocking 2-3 defeat at the hands of China in Doha.

No doubt there have been some bright spots during the past decade or so, but defeats and reverses have eclipsed such short and joyful moments. Olympians and other former internationals are not only feeling sad but also humiliated at the turn of events during the past few months.

After the 1986 World Cup in London, where India finished 12th and last, the showing was hardly any better in Kuala Lumpur in 2002 (10th) and now in Monchengladbach earlier this year (11th). India have been mostly out of the elite Champions Trophy tournament. Now, an Asian Games medal, which was always taken for granted, has also been relinquished.

Looking at the downward slide in team games like hockey, one is tempted to question the wisdom of continuing to consider them as priority areas.

Going by recent performances, there appears to be a remote possibility of India getting among the medals in hockey in Asian, Commonwealth or Olympic Games. The future is in individual sports, as has been shown by shooters, tennis players, wrestlers, weightlifters and even athletes.

It is not difficult to arrive at certain conclusions by critically examining the regression of Indian hockey since 1980. Frequent changes, both of trainers and players, inefficient management, lack of scientific training, poor or no planning and giving more importance to individuals than the team appear to be basic reasons for the continuous downfall of Indian hockey. At times when the country managed to get together a good set of players, lack of consistency proved to be the bane.

Two major grey areas have been failure of the forwards to score and keep the pressure off the defence. After Balbir Singh Senior, we have never had a consistent field-goal scorer. Our penalty-corner conversions, which were so good during the times of Prithipal Singh and Surjit Singh, have not been satisfactory. Our defence has always remained vulnerable against penalty-corner specialists.

Roping in a sponsor here and there is not enough to put the country back on the recovery in a sport in which it enjoyed undisputed supremacy for almost four decades.

The introduction of the Premier Hockey League is an admirable step. But this alone cannot help. The IHF top brass has been blaming the media, sponsors and Olympians for the present state of affairs without ever accepting its own failures.

In the past 12 years, there have been only a few national championships for seniors. And the selectors, if present, came only for the medal rounds and never saw the new and raw talent whose teams get eliminated at the preliminary stage.

It is no use blaming lack of synthetic surfaces. The game needs to be broad-based. However, the IHF considers it beyond its purview to do that and wants the state governments to step in.

The death of club culture and overemphasis on institutions getting into the game may be another reason for the decline. Railways, Services and now Police are losing their edge. Some of the institutional teams, because of administrative and other restraints, are unable to maintain a young profile of their teams.

What could be more unfortunate that the country’s best team, Punjab and Sind Bank, has most of its players who are already over the hill? That is why none of the players of the national champion team gets into the national team. And things are no better in other institutional teams.

If the IHF is banking upon institutions for future of Indian hockey, it is perhaps on the wrong track again.

One-man show
M.S. Unnikrishnan

Jaspal Rana came from the cold with all guns blazing to chart out a golden course for India at the Doha Asian Games. That the shooters accounted for 14 medals — three gold, five silver and six bronze — told a remarkable story of sweat, toil and triumph, which surprised even the worst critics.

Shooting standards at the Asian level are quite high, what with the region packed with world and Olympic champions, but the Indian brigade, led by Jaspal Rana, ended up winning more medals than they had expected. The 30-year-old Rana accounted for all three shooting gold medals (and one silver) to herald his return to form in a telling manner. His unwavering concentration and precision shooting helped Rana hit the bull’s eye in the 25m standard pistol, 25m centre fire pistol individual and team events.

Rana, who has a superstition of competing on empty stomach, thus had a sumptuous medal feast, despite running high temperature.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had pegged its medal hopes from Doha at eight, but the shooters brought home a bagful, which was an apt reward for all the money and labour invested on the shooters over the past few years, particularly after the Busan debacle, where the Indians had won just two silver.

Rana’s verbal volleys against the NRAI, the Sports Authority of India and the Sports Ministry for all the "wrongs" done to him was only to be expected, though it can be construed as churlish, as the government has spent a huge amount on the shooters, for their camps, foreign exposure and import of ammunition and equipment, in their climb to stardom.

The second coming of Rana gave a shot in the arm to India’s aspirations even though some of the fancied shooters on whom a lot of faith had been reposed, did not live up to the expectations. World trap champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu had to be content with two silver medals. Trap coach Marcello Dradi were to observe subsequently that Manavjit was mentally fatigued after winning the gold in the 49th World Championship in Croatia and the Asian Clay Championship in the past few months. But Manavjit said the wind did him in as otherwise he would have had a good shot at the gold.

Gagan Narang missed the gold in his favourite 10m air pistol event, but won the 50m air rifle bronze.

As for trap, India had the best team in the region, but could not reproduce their magical form of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, though the double trap team of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Vikram Bhatnagar and Ronjon Sondhi did a good job of winning the silver, with Rathore coming up with his best score in the final.

Rathore shot a perfect 50 in the third round to ensure the team silver and individual bronze for himself, which were his first Asiad medals, never mind his harsh words about the facilities at the Asiad shooting range, which had raised the hackles of the Doha Games Organising Committee.

Commonwealth Games hero Samresh Jung came a cropper in individual events as he ended up 14th in the 50m free pistol with a score of 550, which was 15 points shy of his Melbourne score, and outside his national record.

The women’s 10m air pistol team of Harveen Srao, Sonia Rai and Shweta Choudhary, also featured in a silver-medal bracket. Harveen missed the individual bronze by 0.1 points. The Patiala girl had won the Junior World Championship bronze at Zagreb earlier this year, and an Asiad bronze would have been much in order, but luck played truant when she needed it the most.

IN THE NEWS
Left is right

It required two left-handers — Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan — to guide India to a much-needed victory against Rest of South Africa. After the drubbing in the one-day series, the team badly needed a reversal of fortunes in the run-up to the Test series.

An inspired century from Pathan, his first in first-class cricket, and a fighting fifty from “comeback man” Ganguly helped India recover from a woeful start in the first innings on a track that assisted the bowlers.

Pathan arrived at the crease with India tottering at 69-5 and he finished unbeaten on 111. Former captain Ganguly contributed 83 in his first match back in Indian colours for almost a year.

Ganguly’s determination, while not always technically convincing, allied with Pathan’s sweet timing and willingness to attack, led a recovery that had seemed unlikely at one stage. Pathan struck the ball fluently, striking 15 fours and one six. Ganguly hit 13 fours.

The duo’s 139-run sixth-wicket partnership helped India post a good total of 316.

The Indian bowling attack, led by the in-form Zaheer Khan, bowled out the opposition for a paltry total. Pathan did not contribute much with the ball, but he later again held the Indian innings together with the bat. Then it was the turn of Zaheer, VRV Singh and Harbhajan Singh to dismiss Rest of South Africa, who fell short of the target by 96 runs. — Agencies

SPORTS MAIL

Stars must perform or perish

Virender Sehwag has been poor form for the better part of the year, yet he has not been dropped from the squad. Instead, he was made the stand-in captain for the last two one-dayers against South Africa after Rahul Dravid got injured.

Sachin Tendulkar, too, has failed several times recently. It is high time he decided to hang his boots and make way for a promising youngster. The present team is likely to cut a sorry figure in the World Cup.

S.C. Dohroo, Kangra

II

Rahul Dravid might be one of India’s finest batsmen of all time, but he is no good as a captain. If India has to put up a good show in the World Cup, Sourav Ganguly should be made the captain and asked to open the innings with Virender Sehwag. Irfan Pathan should concentrate on his bowling, while off-colour Sachin Tendulkar should retire gracefully.

Natha Singh, Ludhiana

III

The entry of several young players into the Indian cricket team has failed to produce the desired results as the overall performance has gone from bad to worse.

The raw youngsters need to be more focused and disciplined. Out-of-form seniors like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag should be asked to play domestic cricket to regain their touch.

The recall of deposed captain Sourav Ganguly is a step in the right direction. His record speaks for itself. Moreover, his experience can come in handy on the bouncy South African wickets.

Karan Rattan, Amritsar