It’s raining goals in Hockey India Sub-Junior Men National Championship

With 30 matches and 285 goals, the 14th Hockey India Sub-Junior Men National Championship has completed its half-way mark. It’s raining goals in the pan-nation event — an outcome to cheer and to worry as well.

While the high scoring league matches clearly indicate that budding players are well adapted to modern hockey, the number of goals conceded by certain teams clearly shows that the sport is only growing in certain parts of the nation.

The national sport is expected to be played across the country with same enthusiasm, but only certain states have managed to pull their strings and made hockey popular in their areas.

Till Friday, out of total 30 matches, 19 were decided one-sided. Today alone a total of 58 goals were scored in six matches. The highest score of the tournament, so far, is being held by Uttar Pradesh lads, who pumped 21 goals against Uttarakhand, on Friday. The event has witnessed only one draw (between Goa and Gujarat), while in results of 11 other matches both the opponents netted goals. So far, the closest losing margin is two goals in at least three matches. Nine matches witnessed teams scoring goals and winning the match by double digit margins.

“Playing trend in hockey has changed in the recent past. However, the outcome of matches (at sub-junior) should be assessed by Hockey India and the state associations. Hockey is no more a sport where a team may be fielded without any preparation. The highest winning margin is 21 goals, which is a good start for the winning side, but an area to focus for the losing side,” said Amritpal, a senior player from the city, a regular spectator at the Sector 42 Sports Complex, the tournament venue.

“We have seen a number of matches here. The teams in league stages are either very good or playing average hockey which in no way is acceptable. The states should come up with better coaching programmes to avoid one-sided matches. Hockey India should also introduce relegation points to discourage teams from conceding such huge defeats in a national event,” said M Thompsan, a technical member of a team.

Notably, a handful of teams are not only technically good, but also possess better physical strength than their opponents. “If the performance of certain teams is concerned, the players are not only better on technical terms, but also hold better physical strength. A layman can categorically deny that these players are of sub-junior level. They are playing like senior and experienced hockey players. It’s a good sign for the nation’s hockey. However, the question still remains, if the players of these states are performing so well at the junior level, why do the players from these states find a little mention in the national squad where Punjab is currently having majority of the stake,” said Rahul, a former national player.