Juniors open up an exciting time for India's hockey scene

Indian players celebrate after winning the Jr hockey World Cup after defeating Belgium 21 in the final at Lucknow on December 18 2016 The win caused huge celebrations all over the country PicPTIIndian hockey in 2016 did not quite reach the heights of the days bygone when the Olympic gold medal was Indiarsquos 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 mannerYet 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 ndash losing to Australia in the final ndash but the real icing on the cake for Indian hockey was the titletriumph 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 quarterfinal 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 OlympicsThe 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 yearsIn 2017 the World Hockey League will travel to London for the semifinals 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 notsoexperienced and there seems to be a lot of positivity about hockeyThe 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 LucknowSardar Singh who still has a few more years of top flight hockey left in him had an upanddown year but was his old commanding self at Asian Champions Trophy Then there was Rupinder Pal Singh who showed he was still Indiarsquos 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 LucknowEven 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 AntwerpBut the ageold 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 Sardarrsquos absence Indian went all the way to the final before losing to Australia in a very close final over a tiebreaker