The Hindu : 'Best Indian team I have seen in years'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 01, 2003

Sport

Sport - Hockey

'Best Indian team I have seen in years'

By S. Thyagarajan

Hamburg June 30. "This is the best Indian team I have seen in years.'' This commendation came from none other than the President of the International Hockey Federation, Els van Breda Vriesmann.

Quite ironically, the comment was made after India had lost to Germany in the Hamburg Masters on Saturday. Understandably, Els was elated to witness India triumph and receive the trophy from her after the two contests on Sunday.

Interacting with this writer at the century-old Ulhenhorster Hockey Club, Els explained her observations, confessing that hockey requires strong India and Pakistan teams in keeping with their tradition and style to inspire the rest of the world.

What impressed the FIH President was the fitness level and aggression the Indians displayed against the formidable Germans, presently enjoying the status of world champion. Els, however, wanted India to try and maintain the level of consistency.

That the twin triumphs in a space of three weeks (from June 8 in Sydney to June 29 at Hamburg) have made a definite impact on the hockey fraternity is stating the obvious. However, the Indian upsurge has to be viewed with satisfaction and caution.

For Maurits Hendricks, former Dutch master-tactician and presently coaching Spain, India is the most balanced combination of experience and youth in contemporary hockey. He said the team is as good as any at the moment and conveyed his admiration for Dhanraj Pillay, still the focal point of Indian hockey. However, he felt that Pillay should be rested more during matches than what the Indian coach is giving him now.

Calm and composed as ever, chief coach Rajinder Singh took the trophy win philosophically, stressing more on the weak points to be improved than gloating over the strong ones. He admitted that there was a noticeable improvement in defence and penalty corners. But Rajinder was unhappy with the way the frontline frittered away chances, bringing down the number of field goals that could have been scored if the finish had been sharp and precise.

While everyone admired the fitness of the team — achieved mainly due to commando training — Rajinder clarified that it was a wrong notion that normally Indian teams were not physically fit. He explained that the teams were always fit enough for competitions but the players' energy levels came down due to unproductive moves and needless running from one corner to another. Agreeing that the training was more scientific and sophisticated nowadays, he said that the focus now was on conserving energy.

Predictably, Rajinder emphasised that the victory in the Junior World Cup at Hobart was the turning point in the history of Indian hockey, and hoped that the players who have graduated into the higher echelons will stay there till 2008.

For him, what was accomplished in Australia and Germany were modest in the context of the tasks ahead — Champions Trophy in the Netherlands next month and Olympic qualifier at Madrid in March 2004.

Rajinder wanted the team to improve in the areas of dodging and finishing. And statistics show that the number of field goals missed by Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur, Baljit Singh Dhillon and even by Dhanraj Pillay was more than what the team scored through penalty corners. However, to Gagan's credit, he slammed home a couple of goals with opportunistic rebounds to be named the best player in the competition.

Gagan had a torn ear lobe after a clash with Argentine goalkeeper, Pablo Morreira, but the wound (which required two stitches) was treated by Dr. Joginder Singh, acting as the manager of the team.

With no official manager accompanying the team, Dr. Singh, who is a practising doctor and surgeon in a town about 60 miles from Frankfurt, willingly took over the responsibility. He has made it a point to be with the Indian team whenever it is in and around Germany.

This writer met Dr. Singh way back in 1982 at the Champions Trophy in Amsterdam, assisting the manager and coach Balbir Singh (Sr).

Welcome development

Hearteningly enough for India, six goals came off the 11 penalty corners forced in the three matches at Hamburg. That Kanwalpreet Singh has joined the ranks of hitters, along with Dilip Tirkey and Jugraj Singh, is an interesting development.

The importance of field goals cannot be exaggerated at a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to score from penalty corners owing to the ever improving standards of goalkeeping as well as the rule changes in this area. The forwards should realise that it takes a great deal of creativity and effort to produce a chance inside the circle and that it cannot be simply thrown away by fancy shots and blind backhanders. True, such drives carry an element of shock and surprise for the goalkeepers, but the success rate is minimal unless the execution is perfect.

No doubt, the Sydney and Hamburg efforts have had an intoxicating effect, but the euphoria has to be restrained at all costs. On the contrary, the endeavour should be on building up on the gains and plugging the loopholes. Primarily, the present talent has to be preserved to serve the larger national interest. The present team is well settled and does not need any more tinkering. Above all, the players have been on their toes continuously for months and deserve a break to avoid fatigue.

How best this can be achieved is what the Indian Hockey Federation should be concerned about. There is a definite need to examine whether a long duration training camp and commando training are required before the Champions Trophy. For, stretching the endurance level beyond a point can be counterproductive.

The best course will be to train the players at the NIS in Bangalore where the facilities, and more importantly the weather, are ideal compared to Delhi now. Whatever the decision, it must be in the best interests of the players rather than other factors.

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