The celebrations that followed India's victory on Sunday in the Olympic qualifying tournament had undeserved shades of triumphalism about them. For a nation with an enviable record of eight Olympic gold medals, the very fact that it had to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics points to the gross mismanagement of a popular sport. It is true that missing the 2008 Olympiad in Beijing for the first time in eight decades was a setback. But the events that followed raised doubts over India overcoming its inadequacies. Instead of analysing the factors that led to the shocking debacle in Santiago, where India failed to make it to the Beijing Games, a blame game was triggered that led to chaos in the administration. The Indian Olympic Association's controversial move to disqualify the Indian Hockey Federation and form a new unit, Hockey India, to manage the sport shifted the focus from the players to the administrators. No worthwhile programme was framed to restore India's image. On the contrary, a slew of legal issues surfaced in different courts. Sadly, there is still no end in sight with the two factions fighting to gain control. The International Hockey Federation's efforts to settle the issue have also failed.
The decline and fall of Indian hockey started in the wake of the loss of the Olympic gold for the first time in 1960. Although, the medal was regained in 1964 in Tokyo, indications of a sharp decline in standards were obvious. There were other factors too that hastened the free-fall. Frequent rule changes in the guise of making the sport interesting to watch for spectators, along with the mandatory use of synthetic pitches for competitions compounded the problems. While countries across Europe, and even Pakistan, began adapting to the changes India failed to read the writing on the wall. Suggestions to hire a foreign coach and reorient traditional techniques and training methods were dismissed with contempt. Even knowledgeable Indian coaches who advocated fresh strategies and theories were humiliated and sidelined. All these factors contributed to India failing to make an impression in the Olympics, World Cup, and even in Continental competitions. The celebrations triggered now reflect the release of the pent up frustration of witnessing our national sport plumb the depths. But the victory in the qualifier could not have come at a better time. The qualitative improvement effected by the new Australian coach, Michael Nobbs, with the full backing of the Sports Ministry, shows that a recovery path can be charted out provided the faction-ridden administration stays focussed on consolidating what little has been gained out of the Olympic qualifier. Such an opportunity may not arise again.
