The Hindu: Fast, clean hockey expected from Rio squad, says Eliza

Led by Ritu Rani, the Indian women confirmed an Olympics hockey berth for the 2016 Rio Games, following a fifth-place finish at the Hockey World League 2015 in Belgium. Thirty-six years after Moscow Games, the nation is back among women’s hockey elite. The confirmation of qualification for Rio resulted in a lot of chatter on the internet among ex-Olympians from the fourth-place finishing 1980 squad.

Padmashree Eliza Nelson, a member of the Whatsapp group named ‘Moscow 1980 Hockey’ and a key link in the forwardline then, explores reasons behind the Rio qualification.

Excerpts from a chat with the Senior Sports Officer, Central Railway, under whose captaincy India won the 1982 Asian Games hockey gold in New Delhi:

Why did it take 36 years for Indian women to make the Olympic grade?

Earlier we had NIS-qualified coaches in charge of the national squad and now we have a foreign coach (Australian Neil Hawgood is current women’s squad head coach) and they are up-to-date with everything. They know the latest rules, techniques and are in touch with the latest methods. We benefited from having a foreign coach, assisted by C.R. Kumar, who is well acquainted with latest techniques after a stint in Malaysia. Helen Mary, an ex-international and in touch with the game, is the goalkeeping coach.

Can you describe the main qualities noticed in the 2016 bunch?

The players are totally focused and superior in their stick-and-ball skill. They are getting so much exposure, going for a tournament every month. The only problem I see here is possible burnout due to constant match play. India fields one women’s team for all tournaments, whether it is a four-nation, an Asian or Commonwealth Games. We feel great winning small tournaments, using the same group of players. Other top hockey-playing nations have one main team for the major event and send experimental sides for lesser tournaments.

Hockey India felicitated the women’s squad for confirming an Olympics place 36 years after Moscow. Your comment on the decision

Qualification was difficult. The team did not know till the last match whether they would make it.

Felicitating them was a good gesture from the federation. I believe each player was given Rs. one lakh.

Do you sense in them an excitement about the value of Olympic qualification after more than three decades?

They were extremely happy and deservedly so. In fact all of us on the 1980 team (Moscow) were overjoyed that after 36 years, Indian women are playing in the Olympics Games. The link continues. We do have a Whatsapp group (Moscow 1980 Group) and chat every day, including Rupa Saini (our captain).

The 1980 Moscow team, which finished fourth, came together again at 1982 Asian Games and won the gold. Do you feel the players sent to Moscow for the Olympics peaked two years later at Delhi?

You have to peak for a tournament, that is how a coach works out the team schedule. We had a very successful tour to Japan prior to 1982 AG. The same group remained together for almost three years, understood one another. We lived like a family, did everything together. Balkishen Singh, our coach for the Asian Games, was very strict about players’ movements away from matches, about rest. We did not take part in the opening ceremony at Delhi, we were not permitted to go and watch men’s matches.

I liked the way he spoke to the players, he read the game very well and just him talking to the team would make a difference in our approach. He was a coach to be respected.

Was Moscow Olympics a different experience, in comparison?

The team was good enough to win an Olympic medal, but for mismanagement. Satinder Walia trained us at the camp and did the hard work, but Kartar Singh was sent to Moscow as coach. If Walia was with the squad in any capacity, we would have returned with a medal. Our team was so disorganised that we ended up waiting from morning to midnight for the team bus and at the training ground. Everything there at the Olympics moves like clockwork. We reached the bus stop when the time slot was not ours. We reached the stadium when at a time when the training slot was not ours, we waited for our turn. Then we overdid the training part on Astroturf in the first week, so by the time the competition began, the players were tired from waiting and over-training.

What type of hockey does Indian women play, under Hagwood?

The Indian women probables for Rio have been together for seven to 10 years, the same team is going for all tournaments. The continuity will be helpful if they can remain free from injury. Fast, clean hockey and good movements we can expect. That is what the foreign coach has focused on, from what I learnt chatting with the Indian Railways players in the camp (19 out of 24 Olympics women probables represent Railways). Training sessions are shorter and attention is on moves. I feel they need work on their speed facing China, South Korea.

Do you feel women’s hockey is now a career for youngsters taking up sport?

Indian Railways is offering jobs to women’s hockey players. Haryana Government offers employment. Players in the national camp belong to Manipur, Orissa, Bihar. Life is tough so youngsters have to step out and make a living on their own. A career in sport comes in handy. Cities like Mumbai have many distractions to keep kids away from hockey.

The London Olympics 2012 saw medals from Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom. Any thoughts on medals prospects from Rio Games 2016

Ayonika Paul, Heena Sidhu in shooting are talented, our women’s badminton doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and G. Jwala should perform, also Lalita Babar in athletics. I hope they come up with career-best performances at Rio, if that is good enough for a medal, so be it.