ARE WE IN THE HUNT FOR HOCKEY GOLD?

OLYMPIC Gold was synonymous with Indian hockey till the Melbourne Games in 1956. Six golds on a trot from Amsterdam (1928) to Melbourne had made India an invincible hockey power. But the winning streak ended at Rome in 1960, and Indian hockey was never the same, again. The seventh gold at Tokyo, 1964, pointed to the portents of a revival, but alas, it was the last hurrah, before the rot set in — slowly, but surely and steadily.

A record eighth gold at Moscow, 1980, was shorn of sheen, as the major hockey powers had kept away from the Games, because of the US-backed boycott, for the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan. Yet, an Olympic gold was an Olympic gold, and Vasudevan Bhaskaran’s team inscribed India’s name in the record books.

After slipping to the bronze slot at Mexico and Munich, and getting the seventh place at Montreal, Moscow was a welcome relief. But it was just a brief breather, as Indian hockey witnessed a decline from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics to the 1996 Atlanta Games. India stood fifth in 1984, then sixth (Seoul, 1988), seventh (Barcelona, 1992) and finally eighth in 1996. Indian hockey had reached its nadir. Change in rules and surface, were cited as reasons for Indian hockey’s downfall. But the truth was somewhere in between — that we ourselves had failed ourselves.

Will there be a revival of Indian hockey? Will India be back on the gold trail? Will Sydney be a watershed? Or will it be yet another story of ashes and sackcloth?

The country of a billion people is waiting with bated breath for Ramandeep Singh’s boys to deliver the gold. But ‘will they or won’t they?’ is the million-dollar question haunting hockey fans all over the country.

The Asiad Gold at Bangkok in 1998, had brought back smiles on the faces of the hockey aficionados. And it brought frowns, too, when the senior players demanded their pound of flesh, for their sweat and toil.

Six-star players were sacked from the national team for their insouciance. The likes of Dhanraj Pillai and Mukesh Kumar, however, had to be brought back, perforce, when the Olympic preparations were in limbo. But Ashish Ballal, the mercurial custodian, whose crucial saves in the tie-breaker against South Korea had helped India wrest the Asiad Gold, was banished for daring to bare, for speaking his mind out, and asking inconvenient questions about players’ rights, payments and other privileges.

Will Ballal’s absence mar India’s chances at Sydney? It would, feel some hockey fans. But the majority feels it would not. And it should not, for India’s sake, for hockey’s sake. The Sports Ministry and the Sports Authority of India have spent a fortune on the preparation of the team. And there is great expectation from the team — a gold. Nothing less.

But will the Ramandeep Singh-led bunch, the "fittest" hockey squad ever to leave the shores of the country, live up to the pre-Olympic hype?

Let us probe a little. India are currently ranked fourth, behind Holland, Spain and Australia. And, therefore, are capable of gaining a berth in the last four. But there was a lot of pure hype at India’s triumph in the four-nation tournament in Perth, April this year. Bangkok, indeed, was a great relief after India had finished a disastrous ninth out of 12 at the Utrech World Cup.

The Asiad Gold ensured automatic qualification for the Olympics, which saved India a lot of bother, and helped the team prepare for the Olympics in right earnest. Since the eighties, India had the ignominy of fighting in the qualification tourneys for a berth in the 12-nation Olympic competition

The training camps, interspersed with competitions abroad, have helped fine-tune the players. But reservations have been expressed at the wisdom of sending the team, a month ahead of the Olympic Games, to train at Murwillinbah, near Brisbane. This shift in training programme, many feel, may wear the team out, instead of tuning them up, when the Olympic Games come around.

But Indian Hockey Federation president, K. P. S. Gill, begs to differ. "For the first time, the Indian team is united and focused", he says. And this should help the members play as a team, instead of aiming for individual glory.

India had faltered with the basics in the last Olympics at Atlanta. But this time, they seem to have worked out their strategy well, and look more confident. Poor ball skills, and faltering while stopping a dead push during penalty corner attempts, had often put spokes in the Indian strategy. India cannot afford to waste its chances. It has been the team’s undoing in the past. Fortunately, emphasis was laid on improving penalty corner conversions in the coaching camps for the Sydney Games.

Dilip Tirkey, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Dinesh Nayak and Lajruz Barla have been going through the grind the hard way to polish their skills in penalty corner conversions. The goalkeepers, particularly the number one custodian Jude Menezes, has been well tested by Len Ayappa, whose drag flicks are very sharp. Jude’s understanding with the defenders has also improved, as these days the goalkeeper, too, has to play a vital role in staving off counter attacks.

In fact coach Ranjit Singh Kaur, has been specially brought in to improve the ‘penalty corner department’, and he seems to have succeeded to a great extent.

India’s penalty corner conversion rate has improved by about eight to ten per cent, which is a great leap forward. There is also a lot of synergy between the midfield and forwards. Dhanraj Pillai and Mukesh Kumar have been jelling well with Baljeet Singh Dhillon, Senthil Nathan, Samir Dad, Gagan Ajit Singh and Deepak Sonkhla.

The midfield is well looked after by the likes of skipper Ramandeep Singh, Baljeet Singh Saini and Thirumanavalan, who can act as an effective foil to the forwardline. And more than anything else, the team is fit as a fiddle. Lack of fitness used to hamper India’s play on the synthetic surface. The physical, medical, psychological, and nutritional aspects, which the rest of the world had been paying heed to since the seventies, have been very well taken care of this time. The focus, however, has been on penalty corner conversion, and a tight defence.

But there is also a flip side to the whole preparation of the hockey team. Every time the team embarks on an Olympic campaign, there is a lot of hype, but the end result is zero. During the past four Olympics, this has been the sorry tale of Indian hockey. The bottomline is that India do not have match-winners in their ranks any more. Whenever we won medals at the Olympics, we had match-winners of the calibre of Dhyan Chand, Prithipal Singh, Balbir Singh Senior, Harbinder Singh, R S Gentle, and custodians of the fibre of Shankar Laxman, who would not allow even a flea to get past him!

Honestly, India do not have a match-winner of the calibre of the icons of the past. A lot of hope was pinned on Dhanraj Pillai and Mukesh Kumar at Atlanta, but both failed to deliver the goods. India’s goal is very shaky this time, in the absence of Ballal. Some people say the goal is "zero", but that is stretching pessimism too far.

But an important aspect has been missing in the Indian team’s preparation. The think-tank has not even considered taking along a masseur with the otherwise large hockey squad, which includes seven officials, to Sydney. The team is touted as the "fittest", but some medical experts wonder how would the players recover, after their hectic day on the field, without the help of a masseur? Foreign teams carry two to three masseurs with their contingent, but the Indian hockey team have none.

Experts also laugh off the SAI’s claim of providing "calorie-energy" rich diet to the players. "Nobody eats calorie and energy. We eat food. Adequate nutrition is the key. Food of the liking of the players, with lots of salads and fruits is included. And, of course, a lot of fluid", opined the sports medicine expert, Dr P. S. M. Chandran.

Though the Indian team had made some trips to Europe and Australia during the past two years, the team have still not got adequate competitive exposure. It is a grave mistake. They should have played some competitive matches, instead of going to Brisbane, to train alone.

In 1992 and 1996, India had big stars like Pargat Singh and Jude Felix. After their triumphant European tour, the team seemed to have peaked early, and flopped in the Olympics. This time, however, there are no big stars, barring Pillai, Mukesh and Mohd Riaz.

So the catchword for Sydney is "teamwork". But like in Atlanta, India will be running into Argentina in their Group B opening match. The 0-1 defeat to Argentina had botched up India’s Olympic hopes at Atlanta. Argentina are the kind of team which have nothing to lose, so they give it all they have. Argentina have always been India’s bug-bear, and even if India get past them in the opening round, they still have to contend with hosts Australia, Spain and South Korea. To get into the semis, India will have to knock off either Australia or Spain, or South Korea assuming that Poland would be a lightweight outfit.

Fortunately for India, almost all the crafty penalty corner specialists are in the A Group — like Pakistan’s Sohail Abbas and Germany’s Bjorn Michael. If India do not mess up their first two matches against Argentina and Australia, they can hope to reach the semis. And India’s supposed improvement in the penalty corner conversion rate gives great hope.

India had struck their sixth successive Olympic gold at another Australian city, Melbourne, 44 years ago. It was also the third Olympic Gold for captain Balbir Singh Senior. Randhir Singh Gentle had slotted in the match-winner off a penalty corner against Pakistan to fetch India the gold. Those were the halcyon days of Punjab hockey. Once again, the Indian team is packed with players from Punjab.

Apart from Ramandeep, there are six players from Punjab in the squad. They are Edward Alloysius, Baljeet Singh Saini, Sukhbir Singh Gill, Baljeet Singh Dhillon, Gagan Ajit Singh and Prabjoth Singh.

For the 29-year-old Ramandeep Singh Grewal, with 184 international matches under his belt, it will be his second Olympics. This Master’s degree holder from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, is keen to emulate another famous alumini of the university, Prithipal Singh, who had led India to a bronze medal victory at Mexico in 1968. An Olympic medal would be a befitting wedding gift for Ramandeep, who is slated to tie the knot after the Games.

Out of the 13 medals that India have won in the Olympics, 11 have been brought by the hockey team — eight gold, two silver and one bronze. One bronze medal was won by K D Jhadav in wrestling and Leander Paes lifted the tennis bronze at Atlanta. Though the country expects a medal from Leander and Mahesh Bhupathi in tennis doubles, the focus is certainly on the hockey team. Hope is pinned on them to bring back the gold they had last won at Moscow.