Indian hockey’s good showing raises optimism

Highs and lows in performance are but part of sports at any time.  Only, when they come one after the other there is a sea of emotion and as it happened in recent times, some noise too. The reference here is to the historic win of the Indian hockey team in the Asian Champions trophy championship held in China and then soon after the Davis Cup tennis event in Stockholm where Sweden swept aside India with the latter exhibiting not even a token of resistance. Hence the noise in the aftermath which it can be said had virtually descended to washing dirty linen in public!

But first, the good part is the triumph of India which hockey lovers perceive as one more confirmation of the rising stature once again of Indian hockey. A sport in which India had excelled for many years had virtually gone into virtual extinction before things began to look optimistic lately. Hockey was the sport that had provided all the delight for Indians during the Olympics, what with eight gold medals won over a period of time with 1980 in Moscow being the last occasion.  Such was the expertise that Indians had in hockey that a great player like Dhyan Chand, a wizard with the stick was often called a ‘magician’ for his stickwork and understanding of the game. There were many similar stalwarts that Indian hockey boasted of at one time and hockey had truly risen to be considered as a national sport.

But then, it took more than four decades thereafter for Indian hockey to be seen again on the medals podium in the Olympics and that happened in the Tokyo edition. A bronze medal won there had come as a huge fillip. And the proof that it was not a flash in the pan, came in Paris with another bronze.  Much has been said as a reason for this hurtle downwards, like the change to astroturf and the inability of our players to master the playing technique on artificial surfaces.  Whatever they may have been, the hitherto known skills lost or not seen in the sport in the country came in for all-round anxiety. The Europeans took over and some Asian countries too forged ahead leaving India to desperation. Perhaps all that phase has changed or is beginning to change if the results in the last few years were to be taken into consideration.

Consider the progress: in the last four years, India has won two Olympic medals, two bronze in fact at Tokyo and the latest in Paris. Had won the Asian Games gold medal in 2022 in Hangzhou, a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2022 and two gold medals in the Asian Champions trophy, Chennai in 2023 and the latest now in Hulunbuir in China. Perhaps there is reason now to think ahead on a confident note. At least the current Coach, the South African Craig Fulton believes so. But one thing seems clear, India now is in the midst of so many aspirants right in the Asian zone itself. An indication came in the latest outing in China where the host country came up with an astounding show in the final.

Beaten easily in the early phase of the tournament, India was in for a surprise from the same China later. China had by then demolished Pakistan and that explained the current stature of this Asian giant. Take a sport and excel in it, seems to be the Chinese way of going about and hockey provided a sample. The way China kept denying a goal-access in the final was a revelation and that India could get a chance opening and score in only the fourth and final quarter of the match was proof of how much the host team had prepared for the occasion to frustrate India in front of a cheering home crowd. India could thus complete the tournament with an all-win record. But there are growing challenges.  Already Malaysia, Japan and Korea have risen in strength and now China. So for India, the fight for supremacy has to begin right in Asia!

Fulton however is confident he would be ready with a compact Indian team with a mix of youth and experience for the bigger moments ahead, starting with the World Cup in two years’ time. His goal of course is a bigger show in the 2028 Olympics! Fulton believes the champion trophy has given him the core, surely with the skipper Harmanpreet Singh the fulcrum on whom the rest will spread out.  Interesting days are truly ahead for Indian hockey and it would be the prayer of every hockey lover in the country that the current tempo would be maintained and more laurels earned.

However, things do not look as rosy on the tennis front. A sport that had brought up great players like the Krishnans and the Amritrajs before Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi pushed the fortunes further, it is a bit unthinkable that Indian tennis should come to this pass now. True the great warrior that Rohan Bopanna continues to earn limelight albeit in doubles there is no gainsaying the sport in India needs a fresh impetus. The Sweden Davis Cup tie was only confirmed. Not that India had beaten Sweden at any time. With the latest, India had played Sweden six times and lost all of them but on this occasion, India could not take even one set in the four matches played should give an insight into how the trend was!  Maybe the latter part of the defeat could have been corrected had the best talent been fielded. Sumit Nagal, Yuki Bhambri and Sasikumar Mukund were not there for various reasons. Suffice it to state Indian Davis Cup fortunes have again fallen to the play-off phase.