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Do not read too much into the Azlan Shah Cup defeat, as youngsters gained a lot from the exposure, says captain Arjun Halappa Blame it on inconsistency Fitness
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Do not read too much into the Azlan Shah Cup defeat, as youngsters gained a lot from the exposure, says captain Arjun Halappa It’s not often that India start as defending champions in a hockey tournament these days. The fact that they were the two times defending champions at the recently concluded 20th Annual Sultan Azlan Shah Invitational Hockey Tournament held in Malaysia had made it doubly important for them to keep up their good show. Though we could not complete a hat-trick of titles and even (more importantly to many) lost to arch-rivals Pakistan in the round-robin league stage and finished a lowly sixth amongst the seven participating teams, captain Arjun Halappa feels the youngsters in his team did a wonderful job and gave enough glimpse of their talent. India won the tournament outright in 2009 and finished joint runners-up with South Korea in 2010. Excerpts from an interview: This was the start of the season after last year’s Asian Games. How do you assess the performance of the team as a whole? I would say despite failing to keep our defending champions’ tag, we really have played well and the results show this. We beat a much higher ranked Britain and held world and Olympic champions Australia. It is a learning curve for the youngsters like Minz, Ravipal, Antil and Rupinder and there are visible positives to be drawn from these outings, which must stand us in good stead in the future. How did it feel to lead the national side for the first time? I have been playing for the nation for almost a decade now but this was the first tournament where I was given the responsibility of wearing the captain’s armband. It is the greatest honour any sportsman can get, though, I admit, I did not expect to be named captain of the side.
You were leading a young side, with half a dozen seniors not included in the team. Did the inexperience cost us dearly? Even at the start of the tournament there was a talk about the team being short on experience and under pressure. But I did not buy this argument. In the tie against Britain, Rupinder Pal Singh, who was included due to the absence of penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh, scored a hat-trick and won the game for us. The youngsters have responded well and there is a great amount of talent in them. What they need is exposure and opportunities to perform. Ipoh has been a happy hunting ground for India after home. It must have been really disappointing to lose? Yes, we have generally done very well in Malaysia and, as I said, it was very disappointing not to have been able to defend the title, but I do not read too much into the defeat. There have been many positives and we have identified real gains, which will help us in preparing ourselves for the Olympic qualifier next year. What went wrong against Pakistan? It was a loss tough to digest. I know there were lapses that led to the loss. Playing against the neighbours was always going to be a test of nerves for the young players and in the first half, they managed it well. We lost it in the second half. There were too many wrong passes and almost every ball landed with the opposition. Any defeat against Pakistan is tough to handle and the 1-3 loss did hurt. How do you rate Harendra Singh as coach? Who do you think is better: Jose Brasa or Harendra Singh? It is not easy to compare two individuals doing the same thing. All I can say is that we are continuing with the same process with broader goals in mind. Both of them are experts at their tasks. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has reportedly proposed a six-match bilateral series. Should India go ahead given the present atmosphere?
It is a long process and it is up to the government to decide, but given a chance we would do our best on the field. That is what we can guarantee.
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Blame it on inconsistency For a hockey team like India, which seems to have been in a transitional period for quite some time now, a tournament like the recent Azlan Shah Cup was a perfect oppurtunity to show some progress.But again, it was the same old stuff. After overwhelming Malaysia, there was a debate over the route for India, the defending champion with Korea, to figure in the fourth successive final. Consequently, after the abominable 3-7 reverse against New Zealand and following the 1-3 score with Pakistan, the discussion zeroed down to whether India could at least take the sixth place. The only consolation was that India was not off the board. While inconsistency is an accepted point, the efforts to keep the ball in possession have cost the team big time. Many a time, the players resorted to back passing during which the rivals derived enough time and space to run into. With the defenders unable to take heavy pressure for long and imperfection in trapping beyond an acceptable measure, it spelt disaster for the team. Only the teams with a sky-high confidence level such as the Aussies can afford that kind of back passing. But for teams like India, the first thing you need to do is to clear your lines and then move forward. Excessive stress on a still unproven defender, Mahadik, led to repeated errors in the mid-field and lack of cohesion among the players. This was not all, these errors further coupled with poor alignment of the frontline led to disastrous results. In such a chaotic scenario, goal scoring becomes one of the most difficult tasks. Arjun Halappa was pushed too far to take more than the required workload by Sarwanjit, who proved to be inadequate. The form of the two goal-keepers, Adrian and Chetri, too, was extremely short-lived, with both of them blowing hot and cold at crucial intervals. After seeing all this, one cannot understand why so many drastic changes were made prior to this tournament, when senior players were sidelined without any real logical reason. Continuity is the first basic of a consistent team. But the Indian team is consistent in underperforming and that has to be put down to a lack of continuity. The team now returns home with a host of problems for the coach, whose tenure remains under scrutiny. The first step towards preparing to obtain a 2012 Olympic Games spot has not taken off in the anticipated way. The whole programme must be carefully re-planned and restructured according to the present-day performance of the players, keeping in mind the various loopholes that have surfaced recently. Once again, the players and the coach will be under the yellow light but questions must be asked to ‘the players’ who picked these players.
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Fitness
mantra Come summers and the most common ads to be seen on the television are about the drinks which provide instant energy in this unbearable heat. These range from simple glucose and vitamin drinks, which are available in the form of powders like Glucon-D, Glucovita, Boost Glucose, to the more potent ones like the Red Bull energy drink, which contain caffeine and taurine along with sugar and vitamins. There are some herbal drinks which are also highly advertised. Then of course there are sports drinks like Gatorade which are very popular.
Here's a general introduction to the various energy drinks — their dangers and advantages.
Sugary drinks These are basically glucose and sugar powders with some added vitamins and minerals. These are supposed to be dissolved in water and taken. The target group for these products are children, who love their flavours and taste. Since these products do not fall in the category of ‘pharmaceuticals’, one is not sure how their ingredients are checked.
Do they really boost your energy? A sugary drink quickly raises your blood sugar level and gives you a boost but it's short-lived. When you eat something with a high sugar content, your pancreas starts to secrete insulin. Insulin triggers cells throughout your body to pull the excess glucose out of your bloodstream and stores it for later use. Soon, the glucose available to your brain drops. Hours later, you feel spaced out, and weak instead of feeling energised. Taking too much of these sugary drinks may also lead to a feeling of fullness. This results in less intake of water, leading to dehydration and a low feeling. Some of these drinks offer a variety of vitamins. This of no use as our body excretes the excess vitamins. Thus, this isn't a major health booster. So, here is a word of caution for young mothers. Do not let your children have more than 1-2 glasses of these sugary drinks per day. Make sure they drink lots of plain water along with them. Please read the ingredients carefully before use.
Sports supplements Sports drinks like Gatorade are specific formulations for athletes or those who are doing aggressive exercises These drinks aim to replenish the water and electrolytes lost through sweat. It is always wise to drink some plain water along with these drinks.
Caffeinated concoctions Energy drinks are beverages that contain legal stimulants like caffeine, taurine, vitamins, herbal supplements and sugar or sweeteners They are marketed to improve energy, stamina and concentration.
How do these drinks work? They are marketed all over the world as all-natural energy boosters loaded with exotic Ingredients, which popular culture believes to be healthy, which they are most certainly not. Their long term side-effects are little known but their continued use may lead to certain neurological problems and may even affect the heart. So, in a nutshell, “Energy drinks provide a near-instant hyperactivity boost, but they always result in a crash. Energy drinks are like energy credit cards — you’re spending future energy to get short-term energy. The resulting energy deficit gets worse until you hit energy bankruptcy.” So, watch out young adults! Try them out if you have to. But do not depend upon them for energy. There are other more natural ways to boost your energy. The writer is a dietician with the Department of Dietetics, PGI
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Having a
ball!
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Come summers and the most common ads to be seen on the television are about the drinks which provide instant energy in this unbearable heat. These range from simple glucose and vitamin drinks, which are available in the form of powders like
Glucon-D, Glucovita, Boost Glucose, to the more potent ones like the Red Bull energy drink, which contain caffeine and taurine along with sugar and vitamins. There are some herbal drinks which are also highly advertised. Then of course there are sports drinks like Gatorade which are very popular.
