The Hindu : Despite twin wins, there's still a long way to go

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 08, 2003

Sport

Sport - Hockey

Despite twin wins, there's still a long way to go

By S. Thyagarajan

Chennai July 7. Predictably enough, the Indian Hockey Federation has opted to retain the team of 18 that won the Hamburg Masters last month for the prestigious Silver Jubilee Champions Trophy at Amstelveen.

This pragmatism needs to be welcomed. For, apart from sticking to the adage of not disturbing a winning combination, the fact that after a long time the team looks well settled, displaying shades of harmony and co-ordination eliciting praise even from critical viewers, has also been taken into account.

Fitness is one aspect which everyone notices in this present combination as a shining factor, even though the chief coach, Rajinder Singh, considers this assessment is born out of a wrong perception. The special training at Mussorie as the first step in the preparation for the Champions Trophy is again aimed at sharpening the fitness level through a commando-type systematisation.

Extra care needs to be taken in this area, as subjecting the players to a regimen bordering beyond their levels of absorption can be counter-productive. Too much emphasis on this type of physical training can cause more harm than good.

It must be ensured that this does not, at least transform the good points into negative ones. How much load can each player take in the duration of the camp should be evaluated before pushing the team to tough exercises like rope climbing etc.

Even the euphoria generated by the twin triumphs in Australia and Germany has to be put and studied in the right perspective. The talk of a medal in Athens, whatever the hue, is absurd now and looks out of place, when the cold fact is that India is not, at the moment, assured of a place in the final 12 for the 2004 Olympiad.

The qualifier at Madrid next March is bound to be tough with teams like Pakistan and Malaysia from Asia, New Zealand or Australia from Oceania, Germany or Netherlands or Spain or England from Europe, Argentina or Canada or Cuba from South America, and an African outfit coming into the fray.

The projection given to the victories, however, meritorious they may be, borders on a needless hype prompting every Tom, Dick and Harry to pass judgments on what the future is likely to be. More than half a dozen players, apart from the captain, Dhanraj Pillay, have gone to the media expressing their own perceptions and prognostications.

Unlike many others, the Indian Hockey Federation has no control over the players talking independently to the media, and even allows the coach, Rajinder Singh, to author a column in one of the leading newspapers!

While the quality of performances has definitely shown a grade of improvement, there is nothing to go ga ga over what has been achieved. The Australians, for instance, can turn round and say that the team beaten was not their best since the 24 players were split into two teams. It is also a fact that two of its stalwart players, captain, Paul Gaudoin and the seasoned Mathew Wells were unavailable for the second leg in Sydney owing to injuries.

And also, the Aussies came back strongly in the final minutes restricting the margin to 3-5 and could well have levelled or even taken the lead if only they had enough time. Pakistan did that trailing 0-3 at one point to finish 4-4 a day before.

In the Hamburg edition too, India did not beat Germany, the strongest of the four with a tag World Champion, but lost 1-2, while both Spain and Argentina held the home team to a draw. It was only the extraordinary performance of Argentina, which managed a 4-4 verdict, which gave India a solitary point ahead of the Germans in the final analysis.

A few days before, India held Germany to a draw at Duisburg, in a tempestuous contest that witnessed the visiting team staging a walk out protesting a few rulings by the Dutch umpire. Although the team returned to stage a recovery and draw in the last few seconds, the action of the Indians did not go well with the administration.

A senior official confided, "they cannot keep doing these things anymore, and they don't go unnoticed."

And India continues to be at the receiving end in terms of cards, red and yellow. Daljit Dhillon was given the red against Pakistan and had to seek the permission of the Tournament Director to play Australia in the final at Sydney. At Duisburg, Dhanraj got the yellow for an argument with the umpire after Kanwalpreet Singh was put on a temporary suspension. Dhanraj's protest is said to have contained a note of racial overtones which flabbergasted the umpires.

The note of negativism in this narration is injected consciously to underline the elements that will easily prick the bubble in no time in a competition like the Champions Trophy. There are several aspects, more important than improved technique and tactics that can spoil the party unless the players learn their lessons from the twin tournaments.

The argument that umpires are prejudiced against Indians does not sell anymore, and even if true, very little can be done about that. It is a fact that the Indians do get away with their flawed approach in domestic tournaments, showing no qualms to gesturing at umpires and what not. But umpires abroad detest even a sign of dissidence and are quick to punish.

Somehow, psychologically, the European umpires, are led to think that the Asians commit too many infringements, consciously at that, and do not understand the spirit and nuances of the rules.

The fraternity, one is forced to conclude, suffers from a phobia, that while controlling the Asian outfits the umpires have to be extra strict with the application of rules. This sometimes leads to comical situations where what is a foul at one end is not at the other!

It is too difficult to distinguish what is the cause and the effect of this syndrome but what needs to be stressed is that the Asian outfits, more so, the Indians should strive to comprehend the psyche of the umpires so as to win their confidence and not do anything that disturbs or irritates them.

This is easily said than done, for in the heat of the moment, players do get agitated when the decisions go against them. There is no alternative but to elevate the whole aspect notches high and beyond reproach by the umpires when the top brass in the FIH has taken notice of the marked strides made by the Indians to match the European outfits.

More than training, the administration should ensure that the camp devotes some attention to fine tune players' knowledge of rules, their interpretation and what decisions to expect from umpires from this or that infringement. This will go a long way in preparing a complete squad than merely assembling the best set of skilful players.

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