The new year gives India a chance to strengthen itself with the emergence of a young and energetic bunch of junior stars, who did the country proud by winning the junior World Cup after a gap of 15 years
Indian players celebrate after winning the Jr hockey World Cup after defeating Belgium 2-1 in the final at Lucknow on December 18, 2016. The win caused huge celebrations all over the country. Pic/PTI
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Indian hockey in 2016 did not quite reach the heights of the days bygone, when the Olympic gold medal was India’s for the taking. Nor are there any signs that those days are coming around soon, but then no team, not even the Australians, the Dutch or the Germans have dominated the sport in a similar manner.
Yet, Indian hockey had its best year in a long, long time. The highs quite easily were the superb silver at the Champions Trophy in London and the Asian Champions Trophy in Kuantan, Malaysia, where Indians avenged their SAF Games loss to Pakistan. India were also second at the Azlan Shah – losing to Australia in the final – but the real icing on the cake for Indian hockey was the title-triumph by the juniors in Lucknow just as the year was coming to an end. The blotches in an otherwise fine year included a loss to Pakistan at the SAF Games final in Guwahati at the start of the year and a quarter-final exit at the Olympics. The year 2017 may not have many signature events from the point of view of hockey, but the year will start the process of building up for the coming years including 2018 Asian Games, the 2018 World Cup to be held in India, and 2020 Olympics.
The year also gives India a chance to strengthen itself with the emergence of a whole bunch of junior stars, who did India proud by winning the Junior World Cup in Lucknow after a gap of 15 years.
In 2017, the World Hockey League will travel to London for the semi-finals and the Indians will have happy memories of Champions Trophy silver to inspire them. India now has a superb blend of young and old; experienced and not-so-experienced and there seems to be a lot of positivity about hockey.
The defeat at the hands of Pakistan notwithstanding in the SAF Games in Guwahati at the start of 2016, India did get a few youngsters, who would go on to redeem themselves before the year ran out, as goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya and Ajit Kumar Pandey emerged as stars for the future at the Junior World Cup in Lucknow.
Sardar Singh, who still has a few more years of top flight hockey left in him, had an up-and-down year, but was his old commanding self at Asian Champions Trophy. Then there was Rupinder Pal Singh, who showed he was still India’s best bet for penalty corners. And of course, PR Sreejesh, as usual, was the pillar around which the team stood. Quite appropriately, he was around inspiring and mentoring the juniors on their way to the World Cup in Lucknow.
Even as we assess 2016 and look forward to 2017, it needs to be said that the Hockey India League, started in 2013, has begun to bear fruit. The first sign of that came when India won the Asian Games in Incheon in 2014 followed by encouraging performances at World Cup at The Hague and World Hockey League semis in Antwerp.
But the age-old problem of axing coaches and an acrimonious parting first with Terry Walsh and then Paul Van Ass, threatened to wipe out all gains. Fortunately for India, Roelant Oltmans took over and it worked. India made the final of the Azlan Shah before losing to Australia. Then Oltmans gambled big by leaving out Sardar Singh for the Champions Trophy in London. Despite Sardar’s absence, Indian went all the way to the final before losing to Australia in a very close final over a tie-breaker.
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